Chapter 248: Hetty’s Experiment

Gawain and Amber were on their way to inspect the roughly one hundred so-called “intelligence elites” from the future. Along the way, Amber couldn’t help but bring up a rumor she’d heard around the territory.

“By the way, I just heard someone say there’s a new ‘Ancient Archmage’ in the territory?”

Gawain nodded. “His name’s Kamail. You’ll meet him soon enough.”

Amber’s eyes darted around as if she was thinking something over, then suddenly blurted out, “Did you dig him out from that ruin in the mountains?”

“…Well, it’s not exactly digging him out,” Gawain replied, feeling the half-elf’s choice of words was a bit off. “He was trapped in a pocket dimension…”

“Then that’s digging him out,” Amber said matter-of-factly, before giving Gawain a thorough once-over that made him break out in goosebumps. “What’s with that look?”

“Another one rising from the grave in the territory!” the half-elf clapped her hands excitedly. “Did you feel out of place being the only ancient person around, so you decided to dig up someone even older? But don’t you two have a generation gap too?”

Gawain immediately regretted not hitting her harder earlier…

But Amber’s winding train of thought and her relentless chatter were nothing new. Gawain had long developed a decent immunity to her. As long as he ignored her, she’d eventually quiet down.

This time, however, Amber’s babbling was even more intense than usual. Even when Gawain stopped responding, she kept firing off new topics. After enduring her nonstop chatter for most of the journey, Gawain finally glanced at her and said, “Why are you talking so much this time?”

“Am I?” Amber blinked, then shook her head vigorously. “I don’t think so!”

“You’re a little nervous,” Gawain said helplessly. “You always talk a lot of nonsense when you’re nervous—and you don’t even realize it.”

Amber froze for a moment, suddenly aware she’d accidentally revealed her emotions. After sighing over why a knight had to be so perceptive, she sheepishly nodded. “Honestly… yeah, a bit. But I’m not nervous about myself.”

Gawain had already guessed what was on her mind. “Because of the people you brought?”

“Something like that…” Amber gave a dry laugh. “I just want to say… those guys all grew up in the gutter. Thugs, con artists, thieves—that’s what they were. They all swore up and down they’d behave before coming here, but I know their backgrounds. I just want you to be prepared mentally, and don’t get mad at their rudeness. They’re actually not bad people.”

Gawain stopped walking and gave Amber a half-smile. When she awkwardly looked away, he chuckled, “It’s rare to hear you speak so cautiously—and even more rare to hear you defend others in advance.”

“We’ve been through life and death together—though that was years ago,” Amber pouted. “I want to help them with this opportunity, but I just don’t fully trust their abilities.”

Gawain shook his head with a smile, then suddenly brought up an unrelated topic. “You know about the Royal Shadows who serve the Ansu royal family, right?”

Amber blinked, then nodded. “Yeah, yeah. When we went to the capital last time, I ran into one—kicked him out of the Shadow Realm with a single kick. Nearly knocked him out cold. That’s the Royal Shadows, right?”

Gawain: “…Don’t get cocky just because of that one lucky encounter. If you faced the real Shadow operative head-on, ten of you wouldn’t be enough to handle him. The Royal Shadows are the Ansu royal family’s most elite stealth operatives and intelligence agents. Since the kingdom’s founding, they’ve secretly protected the realm and gathered all kinds of intelligence for the king. And I was one of the original trainers for the Royal Shadows.”

“Oh, I think you mentioned that before,” Amber frowned, trying to recall. “Oh yeah, you taught them two-handed swordsmanship and physical training…”

Gawain was once again left speechless. That feeling of trying to sound impressive but getting shut down repeatedly was no fun. Still, he gritted his teeth and continued, “…I did teach them those two things, but beyond that, I helped design the entire training program for the Royal Shadows.”

Amber finally understood what Gawain meant, but her face was full of surprise. “Wait… are you planning to train those hopeless guys to the Royal Shadow standard?”

Before Gawain could answer, she waved her hands emphatically. “Don’t joke around. I know exactly what kind of people they are. Besides scamming, cheating, and a few sleight-of-hand tricks, what skills do they have? It’s hard enough to train them into regular soldiers, let alone elite operatives.”

“They don’t need to be super strong fighters, and I’m not expecting to train them exactly like the Royal Shadows,” Gawain smiled and shook his head. “The Royal Shadows and the intelligence agents I want are different. I don’t need a bunch of elite warriors… Intelligence gathering, covert communication, identity disguise, use of spy tools—there’s plenty for ordinary people to learn. You should have some faith in them.”

“I don’t know what you’re thinking,” Amber said, scratching her head as she looked at the confident Gawain. “But you always have a ton of tricks up your sleeve. I’ll trust you on this one.”

Meanwhile, far to the south of the territory, in the magical laboratory, Hetty and her assistant Rebecca were bent over a strange-looking “stone” they were testing.

In the center of the lab, they’d cleared a large open space. The floor was covered with portable “honeycomb magic nets” made from rune plates that could be easily disassembled and moved. Between the honeycomb units, three red copper plates for conducting magical energy were arranged in a triangular pattern. At the center of these plates sat a roughly obelisk-shaped “stone” about several dozen centimeters tall.

The surface of the stone shimmered with a deep purple glow, its texture somewhere between crystal and metal—it was a purified and reforged piece of Hohm ore.

Purifying this unusual magical material had taken Hetty and Hammer from the metal smelting plant quite a bit of effort. Unlike ordinary metal ores, Hohm ore couldn’t be smelted or forged by simply heating it to high temperatures. When the temperature rose, the ore would just shatter into useless powder like sand. Although Nicholas had overcome his “allergic reaction” to Hohm ore, his metal manipulation powers had no effect on it. The breakthrough came from a seemingly accidental mistake.

Hetty had accidentally poured an acid solution into the container holding the raw ore sample—and to her surprise, this stubborn mineral dissolved in the acid. The useless components reacted with the acid and turned into filterable residue, while the acid itself underwent a series of reactions, displacements, and purifications, eventually becoming a smeltable powder. After a series of smelting and forging processes, Hetty finally obtained the first pure Hohm crystal.

After confirming that the precious Hohm crystal was stably connected to the magic net, Hetty turned to Rebecca, who was standing by a magical array in the corner. “Can you sense the mana field over there?”

Rebecca, who had already been searched thoroughly, glanced at the sensing crystal in the center of the array. The crystal was faintly glowing, and three of the dozen or so runes around it were lit. “Got it! But the strength is still pretty low…”

Hetty frowned slightly, staring at the Hohm crystal linked to the magic net. “Hmm… After purification, it’s much easier to release a mana field. Just connecting it to the most basic magic net unit makes it work. That means the purification really worked. But the mana field’s strength hasn’t improved much… Could it be that this thing’s maximum mana output is just that low?”

Rebecca thought for a moment. “I remember when you injected some extra mana into the crystal earlier, the mana field’s strength increased for a brief moment…”

Hetty frowned. “Did it? I didn’t notice.”

Rebecca looked uncertain. “Maybe I was mistaken…”

“No, let’s test it,” Hetty said, unwilling to let any detail slip. She picked up her staff and brought its tip close to the purified Hohm crystal on the floor, then cast the simplest mana infusion spell. “See if the sensing crystal changes.”

“It did seem to light up for a moment…”

“What do you mean ‘seemed’?” Hetty shot Rebecca a sharp look. “How many times have I told you? Magic experiments require precision—no ‘seems’ or ‘maybe’! Let’s try again!”

While Hetty and Rebecca busied themselves testing the purified Hohm crystal, far away at the Rune Research Institute, Kamail was deeply engrossed in studying the “textbook” Jenny had brought him.

This ancient archmage from a thousand years ago absorbed all the useful knowledge of this era with ravenous enthusiasm. Whether it came from learned scholars or a lowly fourth-level runesmith, if it was useful, he was eager to learn. Although he had initially looked down on the idea that a mere girl, barely a novice mage, was leading rune research in the territory, after seeing the rune logic materials Jenny presented, this ancient scholar was utterly captivated by the novel theory.

Jenny watched the imposing archmage before her with a mix of awe and joy. She had been startled when she first saw Kamail’s incredible form, and even more nervous upon learning his identity. Though she had grown accustomed to the relaxed and respected life in Cecil’s territory, the pressure from a high-level mage still weighed heavily on her. In her mind, powerful archmages were proud, cold, and terrifying. Such mighty spellcasters looked down on weaker people like herself and often dismissed their research as heretical. If contemporary mages were like that, what kind of pride and inscrutability would an archmage from a thousand years ago possess?

She had prepared herself to face Kamail’s wrath and to defend the dignity of rune logic if necessary. But to her surprise, the ancient archmage showed no anger upon seeing rune logic. Instead, he displayed great scholarly interest.

This filled her with joy—so not all archmages and mages were so unapproachable after all.

Kamail read for a long time, only looking up after finishing the section on interference knots. He seemed about to say something, but before he could speak, his body twitched slightly, and he let out a puzzled sound. “Hmm?”

Jenny immediately tensed. “Master Kamail, are you alright?”

The arcane glow around Kamail gradually stabilized. “I don’t know… I just felt an itch.”

Far away from the Rune Research Institute, inside a secluded magical laboratory, Hetty once again placed her wand atop the Hohm crystal. As she prepared to cast the spell, she reminded Rebecca, “This time, watch closely. Make sure you count exactly how many runes light up!”

No sooner had she spoken than a small burst of white light flared from the tip of Hetty’s wand, causing the Hohm crystal to glow faintly.

Back at the Rune Research Institute, Kamail had just set down the documents in front of him, manipulating them with a shaping hand, when his body suddenly trembled again.

Jenny’s anxiety spiked once more. “Master Kamail?”

“I… don’t know what’s going on, but I just felt that itch again…”

(End of chapter)