As mentioned before, erecting a barrier over every city in the empire was indeed possible—if they were willing to burn through the treasury's reserve of mana stones. Yet each stone could last no more than a week before it burned out, and the rain was predicted to linger for an entire month.
The empire was caught in a dire predicament. To use the mana stones now meant that, should war erupt without warning, they would be stripped of the very lifeblood that powered their armies, their weapons, their defenses.
Inside the imperial court, voices clashed like thunder.
"Are we to squander our arsenal on mere weather?" one noble scoffed, his knuckles white against the table. "What if the northern tribes march tomorrow?"
"And what of our people?" another shouted back, slamming his fist. "Will you watch them drown in sickness and famine just to polish your blades for a war that may never come?"
