After investigating the situation in the secret room, Ryan opened the space door leading to the world of Plants vs. Zombies and entered.
With the help of robots, the city was being built at an astonishing pace, and the fortress that had only been planned on blueprints was nearly finished. Ryan found Kenway there, who had just returned from a vacation on the open sea.
"Good afternoon, Kenway. You seem to have had a good time. I have some business with Dave. Could you tell me where he is?" Ryan asked.
"I heard that the spider you sent last time gave Dave a lot of inspiration. He's been spending the last few days in the laboratory, working on something, though I'm not sure what. But he did say that when you came to ask him for something, I should bring you to him," Kenway replied.
With that, Kenway put down his coffee cup and led Ryan to the warehouse. "By the way, I think the assassin uniform suits you better than the black robe from last time."
They arrived at the entrance of the underground warehouse. After showing their identification badges, the guards opened the heavy door for them.
As they stepped inside, Kenway opened the innermost warehouse door, revealing the shelves stacked with the supplies Ryan had requested.
"It seems like you're dealing with something big now. Just one piece of advice: Big creatures are often very strong in life. Don't approach too rashly before confirming their death." Kenway waved his hand and turned to leave, shutting the warehouse door behind him.
Ryan silently took note of the advice, then began to inspect the weapons that had been prepared.
There were two types of these weapons, both powered by clockwork-driven mechanical difference engines. This was something Ryan had specifically requested, as he feared that electricity might fail within Hogwarts.
One type of weapon was a set of ten weapon stations, each equipped with three whaling guns in parallel. These guns were one-on-one weapons that fired whaling darts with explosive tips, powered by gunpowder.
Fortunately, thermal weapons were available within Hogwarts, as Ryan discovered from the school's history that Peeves had once fired a cannon inside the castle in the 19th century.
The other weapon was a cleverly designed steel repeater that could fire five javelins with explosive heads in quick succession. However, these were harder to produce, so only five were made.
All the weapons were controlled by the difference engine, and Ryan had set them to pour fire in a predetermined direction.
Lastly, there were thin copper plates with intricate patterns engraved on them. Silver wires were embedded in the grooves of these patterns, and numbers were etched onto the plates for easy alignment. These plates, along with the silver wires, had been infused with sunlight crystals during the smelting process of the metal—an innovation discovered in the Plants vs. Zombies world. The workers found that adding sunlight crystals during the smelting process could significantly reduce the time required for forging metal.
The previous battle with the eight-eyed giant spider had revealed that some parts of the Gatling gun had positive energy reflections. After further research, Ryan learned about this newly discovered metal. As a result, all the items they needed had been forged using this new material.
It took months to prepare everything because Plants vs. Zombies typically recycled old metal and made items through basic processing. Obtaining this new metal required a custom order, and the manufacturing process was not fast.
After counting all the supplies, Ryan opened the space door leading to the secret room and transported the items inside with a cart. He then began his preparations.
First, Ryan took out the copper plates, placing them at each node according to the predetermined positions. In the end, he formed a magic circle. Afterward, he took out a bottle of potion from his space bag and applied a few drops to each copper plate.
The potion was made from the blood of the eight-eyed giant spider, with a few strands of unicorn tail hair melted into it to balance the yin and yang. The result was a potent magic conductor.
As the potion dripped onto the plates, they seemed to come alive, absorbing the liquid. Once fully absorbed, the silver wire embedded in the plates emitted a faint glow.
Finally, Ryan used a brush dipped in potion to draw a magic circle on the ground, connecting all the copper plates together to form a unified pattern.
When the last stroke was completed, a brilliant white light erupted from the circle, and the metal plates turned into liquid. The liquid flowed along the pattern on the ground, eventually forming a large circle in front of the statue.
As the light dimmed, Ryan approached the center of the circle. He saw that the metal plates had solidified into metal wires and were now embedded into the floor of the secret room, forming a radiant magic array.
He then drew his Hidden Sword, sliced his finger, and let his blood drip onto the formation's "eyes," allowing him to control the demon-binding formation.
This magic circle was derived from the Maoshan Taoist scriptures. It was used by the Maoshan sect to capture large monsters before the end of the law. Unlike other methods, this circle required only one person to operate, without any need for significant cultivation. However, it had rarely been used throughout history.
The main drawbacks were that the formation could not be moved after deployment and that the copper and silver materials required for its construction were incredibly expensive. Most people at that time were unwilling to spend vast sums of money on this method.
For Ryan, however, the magic circle's ability to be operated by a single person, without requiring significant cultivation, was invaluable. Additionally, the materials used were not nearly as precious to him. The fact that it was designed to block the basilisk's exit meant that its immobility wasn't an issue.
Once Ryan had fully activated and controlled the circle, all light and energy faded, returning the floor to its previous state.
With the most important part of the preparation completed, Ryan arranged the 15 weapon stations according to the optimal plan that had been calculated in the Plants vs. Zombies world. He then inserted the armor-piercing charms—previously drawn on the spider's carapace—into the slots left on the arrows.
These charms were the reason Ryan had chosen arrows instead of firearms. He was uncertain whether he could condense so many runes into a small bullet, and the environment of a bullet was far worse than an arrow's, meaning the magic could be easily destroyed by high temperatures and speed.
Finally, Ryan fired a hook wire from his left arm, anchoring it to a post where cages containing roosters were stored. This way, once the basilisk's exit was opened, he could quickly escape and use the roosters to weaken the basilisk.
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