Chapter 67: The Visit

The cool magical light source illuminated the titles on the spines of dozens of books. A hand gently brushed past them, lingered on one, but after gently tapping it a few times, moved on.

Constantine was searching alone among the rows of bookshelves, but he seemed indecisive. Sometimes he pulled out a book and flipped through it standing right there. Other times, he glanced at the cover and slid it back, like someone who couldn’t sleep and just wanted to pick up any book to read—however, this was not the Duke’s Mansion study, and the youth was hardly a bored insomniac. The white sand in the hourglass had run out, and the search was quickly reaching the end of the bookshelves, but the youth could only finally sigh.

The library of the Nikolai Mage Tower covered an extremely vast area, with a rough estimate of nearly one hundred thousand volumes in its collection. Although it still couldn’t compare to the county-level scale in the youth’s memory, in this era without printing and papermaking technology, where everything depended on transcription, owning such a library was undoubtedly an extremely extravagant thing. Yet, after lingering here for a day and a half, Constantine found that it offered him little help… There was plenty of information about Magic Arrays, but what Constantine hoped to find, information related to the Magic Array carved on his own back, was completely absent!

This wasn’t particularly strange. Information on Magic Arrays belonging to the domain of the Soul was originally the patent of Necromancers. However, after the war four hundred years ago, this knowledge had been burned to ashes by the flames of fear, over eighty to ninety percent destroyed. Although Nikolai still had some books on ancient Magic Arrays, what they recorded was merely superficial. Those vague and unclear explanations were far inferior to Hartdiel’s knowledge reserves.

Shaking his head, Constantine flicked off a speck of dust clinging to his hair… He now missed the life in his memory immensely. At least back then, if he wanted to find some information, he only needed to click the mouse in his hand.

Fortunately, this search wasn’t entirely meaningless—from a book on low-level Magic Arrays, Constantine finally found that Magic Array which could generate rotational power for a certain object.

For this relatively simple Magic Array, Constantine spared no effort, even reducing his time for Meditation and training. He redrew it dozens, even hundreds of times, firmly committing it to memory—this represented not just a simple Magic Array problem. With this engine-like core, the various means of transportation from the youth’s memory now had a solid foundation.

“Boss…”

Urgent footsteps shattered the tranquility of the place of knowledge. A short figure hurriedly slipped through the bookshelves, standing before Constantine with bowed head, speaking softly… His somewhat hurried breathing made the youth frown beneath his hood. Impatiently, Constantine cut him off, “Cheney, I told you to change how you address me, but that doesn’t mean you should use something that causes confusion… I’m not some gang leader from the Lirel district of the docks!”

“This… this… yes, yes,” ripples seemed to pass over the robe of the short apprentice, his voice trembling. Constantine had no choice but to cut him off again with a sigh, “Is there another part you don’t understand?”

…

Regarding this task of creating the flying ship, Constantine actually felt some regret in his heart.

Constantine actually envied His Majesty the Emperor, whose help was given just appropriately and to a limited extent—airship research and development was just a casual remark, and then it became the business of his subjects… And his subordinates were extremely efficient… The morning audience ended, and by the afternoon, he had already received the official seal of the Viscount, along with the two hundred thousand Empire gold notes delivered. The few aides sent, as well as a large laboratory specially established within the Mage Tower, were all directly arranged by the master of the Mage Tower, Archmage Nikolai. Everything was ready by the next day, incredibly convenient and fast.

But when things reached him, they became exceptionally troublesome.

He had never studied management, nor had any concept of personnel. The biggest official position he had ever held growing up was just the homework collection group leader in elementary school, which changed every month… Yet now, he suddenly had over thirty or forty people working under him.

Yes, thirty or forty people… After that not-so-glorious victory, he was immediately invited by Archmage Nikolai for a talk… To be precise, as the last and only one summoned alone, he simply exchanged glances with the Archmage for a moment… Then the other party told him that, as punishment for privately and overestimating himself by dueling a Formal Mage, the Mage Tower would no longer assign him assisting Formal Mages. However, considering the needs of the research and development work, he could recruit ten senior apprentices and twenty junior apprentices for auxiliary work.

Originally, Constantine planned to steel his heart and shamelessly become a hands-off supervisor… With a flourish of his pen, he distributed the three-view drawings of various key parts. He estimated that this hot air airship had a relatively simple structure, and the parts with some technical difficulty were all related to Magic Arrays. As a Warlock Apprentice himself, he didn’t need to intervene at all and couldn’t help much anyway. So, after memorizing the operational principles of the Magic Arrays, he unceremoniously tossed all other miscellaneous tasks to the senior apprentices doing odd jobs below.

But unexpectedly, the consequences this caused were truly a scene of widespread lament. Although the balloon’s structure wasn’t complex, its volume was a major problem—the outer skin of the hot air airship designed by Constantine, converted to a flat surface, was only a bit over fifteen hundred square meters. It didn’t seem large, but we know that even for large creatures like oxen and horses, the usable skin on their bodies is at most a few square meters. Although Constantine eventually customized the outer skin material to the most common cowhide, to reduce weight and for fireproofing, each piece of hide had to undergo special treatment. Then they were glued with supreme adhesive, sealing issues, waterproofing the outer skin… A huge pile of tedious matters that gave people headaches. Even with over a dozen apprentices temporarily called in to help, it would still take over ten days to completely process this stuff.

This was also thanks to someone… To gather enough material for the Hot Air Balloon’s outer skin, that girl practically exhausted the entire Mage Tower’s reserve of low-level beast hides. And these hides were completely burned away during that one experiment, so some logistics and procurement problems also fell on the apprentices. The concept of the hot air airship differed from ordinary Magic Items, so the people under him often came up with some laughable concepts. Various issues that required direct consultation with this supervisor actually increased instead.

Also, some tasks were beyond the apprentices’ capabilities. For example, the keel set up to obtain the strength to prevent the airship from deforming during high-altitude flight—it was made from a material called steelwood, simultaneously meeting the needs for lightness and toughness. However, processing this material was not a task ordinary craftsmen could accomplish.

Fortunately, among the spells in this world, there was a Transmutation School auxiliary spell called “Mastercraft” — Vernal just waved his hands a few times, and the steelwood strips that had cost Constantine quite a bit of silver to collect were seamlessly joined together, neatly bent into the required shape. A difficult task that would have required dozens of traditional carpenter workdays was easily completed like this, making Constantine resolve several times in his heart that he must learn this practical spell.

Although it had no offensive power, just imagine, with a wave of the hand, you could casually create a large pile of various parts, then dashingly assemble them into a weapon, and then spectacularly headshot your opponent… What kind of concept was that?

Mage Tower Laboratory 1173.

The originally spacious and empty laboratory had become extremely crowded. Centered around the giant, one-hundred-and-fifty-foot-long keel of the airship, dozens of robes of various colors moved among it. Every now and then, a treated piece of leather was draped over that huge object. The pine resin scent of the supreme adhesive and the stench of leather mixed in the air into a peculiar, strange odor. Actually, this process was simple and monotonous, but the slight excitement in almost everyone’s eyes kept their actions uninterrupted by any environmental or mood influences.

Having the honor to participate in the creation of a Flying Magical Device was an exceptionally exciting thing for every apprentice.

Only when the light of the Teleportation Circle condensed into that short figure wrapped in a gray-black Robe of Magic, everyone unanimously stopped their work and gave the mage salute.

Perhaps when miracles occur, they always bring some astonishing phenomena. Everyone knew upon being recruited into this group that this group, during the first-day meeting, had triggered that exceptionally unfair duel between an apprentice and a Formal Mage, which also determined for them a jaw-dropping supervisor.

Although just a Sorcerer, and although younger than most people present, this Constantine was undoubtedly already a prominent figure in the Mage Tower — the eldest son of the Connallyvis Family, who caused trouble and fought someone on the first day entering the Mage Tower, creating an extremely fast advancement record, the executor of the Airship plan personally designated by the King, and having ambiguous relationships with several famous figures in the Mage Tower… such as the so-called “Mad Dog” Archmage Vernal, and the youngest genius Sorceress Christine…

And most recently, this duel with Mage Corne.

Although it was said the four people involved in the incident were finally invited to Archmage Nikolai’s laboratory at the top of the Mage Tower… The specific discussion results were unknown to anyone, and Mage Corne had not appeared before anyone since then. The two who witnessed the entire combat process revealed no details. All inquiries, whether roundabout or malicious questioning, were met with only a dry explanation: Archmage Nikolai stopped this duel.

However, as mages who make a living with their intellect, they could easily see some problems from this. Not to mention Mage Nico’s strange behavior of shutting himself in his laboratory for three days without showing his face, just the performance of his disciple before that apprentice-level youth was enough for some clever apprentices to discern something… So rumors of various versions spread at an astonishing speed, and another strange halo was added to Constantine’s head.

“Any other matters?” After casually blustering and sending off three questioning apprentices to work, Constantine was about to prepare to slip away again, but before he could leave the scene, another voice interrupted his movement.

“Constantine…”

A soft yet cool voice sounded behind him. Constantine couldn’t help but slightly start, then annoyed, rubbed his temple, noticing Christine was already standing to the side… He couldn’t help but curse in his heart Nikolai’s inconsiderate design— all mages, as long as they had the authority, could use Teleportation Spells wherever they could go… While this was certainly a very convenient benefit, when it came to things like confidentiality, it was extremely annoying.

“Good day, Sorceress Christine. What business do you have?”

The casual greeting received no answer. The Sorceress, as always, grabbed him and walked off. So, under the gazes of the apprentices mixed with surprise and envy, the youth followed the girl into the independent office in the corner of the laboratory…

The atmosphere became somewhat quiet for a moment— three days after that spectacular balloon experiment, this was their first meeting. Looking at her calm, unruffled face beneath the hood, the scheming Constantine suddenly felt a bit nervous…

In fact, according to that somewhat inexplicable Pact established in the sky that day, the relationship between the two could already be considered “lovers”… Unfortunately, this lover status was merely abiding by an agreement, not exactly willing. This made Constantine feel somewhat tragic— human desires always want more. Half a month ago, when he first met this pretty, quiet girl, Constantine might have fantasized at most, hoping to win a kiss from her would satisfy him. Now that he had obtained her, or had the opportunity to, he couldn’t help but start wanting to have both her person and her heart.

The probability of such a good thing wasn’t very high, but Constantine felt he still had many opportunities — undoubtedly, aside from those special cases, a female Mage was always the most difficult female creature to approach on the Western Continent. And Miss Christine was undoubtedly one of the best among them. She loved ideas for various Magic Items far more than roses and perfume. To win her favor, just devoutly praising love was far from enough. You only gained her special attention after providing enough and peculiar ideas for Magic Items.

But equally undoubtedly, Constantine, this transmigrator, happened to meet this requirement.

“Sorry…”

Amidst the youth’s random thoughts, the girl spoke. Her tone didn’t sound like an apology at all; her voice was as indifferent as ever. Yet it successfully made Constantine pause— in fact, he had never expected to hear such words from her. But as if to confirm, the girl continued, “I apologize for putting you in danger during the previous experiment.”

“That… it’s nothing… I… um?” Constantine scratched the back of his head, somewhat awkward about how to respond, but just then, that delicate face was magnified in his vision. Simultaneously, a warm softness spread on his lips…

The initial surprise faded instantly. The youth reached out to hold the girl’s shoulders, then took the initiative into his own hands… This wasn’t like that first shallow, interrupted kiss. The youth mischievously pushed his tongue forward. Unexpectedly, the girl’s teeth only resisted slightly, then yielded. Their lips and tongues intertwined, tasting the sweet saliva in each other’s mouths.

Christine’s breathing gradually became heavier. The girl’s chest rose and fell, which only made Constantine feel his body growing hotter…

He slightly loosened his hold… and then…

Their lips separated! The youth agilely jumped back a step, standing in an impeccable standard posture!

“Boss… boss!” Just then, the door was banged open. A figure in blue flashed in!

Constantine covered his mouth and pretended to cough a few times to hide the awkward expression on his face, then frowned and squeezed out a voice through gritted teeth to this guy who had ruined the moment, “Cheney Polian, you kid… are you a fifty-cent party? Or a relation-minded citizen actively conducting self-inspection in response to some website’s call?”

“Bo… that… no, I’m not any party, Viscount. The new king of the Kingdom of Delan has ascended the throne…”

The gardener’s child didn’t have high authority; there were some places he could only run to and from. His body, not used to much exercise daily, clearly wasn’t suited for such intense activity. Before he could finish his breathless sentence, his face had already turned somewhat bluish from exertion, and he could only pant heavily. He paid no mind to Constantine’s curse whose meaning he didn’t understand.

“That doesn’t seem to have any relation to you barging in arbitrarily… If you can’t give me a suitable reason…”

Regarding this rash fellow’s interruption of the previous ambiguous matter, Christine’s inner attitude was unknown… In fact, Constantine thought probably no one except those mind-reading masters could truly understand this lady’s real thoughts — like now, her tone and expression remained calm and indifferent, but purple-blue arcs of Lightning were already crackling and flashing in her hand!

“No… Sister Christine… no, Sorceress, I have urgent news! Cough! Cough! Cough!” The boss’s fierce gaze and the blatant death threat of lightning made the poor apprentice hurriedly try to explain. But speaking while taking big breaths was a high-difficulty skill. He choked violently — making the reason even more unclear.

“The new king of the Kingdom of Delan, Adolf Xiliu Augustus’s son, Crown Prince Rheinstadt Hilue August, is about to visit Hayton, and he chose to come via the Teleportation Array!”

“Archmage Nikolai and all the High-Rank Mages are going to perform a large-scale long-distance Teleportation! That’s something that hasn’t happened for decades… Everyone has already gathered at the Arcane Arts square. Boss, you should go take a look too!” Only after the time of an hourglass’s mark did the little fatty finally catch his breath, shouting excitedly, “All the rings of the Teleportation Circle have started operating! I’ve never seen such a magnificent sight before!”

Originally planned to act against the wind… but didn’t dare in the end… Got caught by the boss to handle errands in the morning, only now have time to upload… Fortunately, no worries about perfect attendance this month… But updating late, still need to say sorry…