Stepping out from the crack in space, Victor appeared in front of the Artificer Hall. It had been a while since his last visit, but the sound of machinery and occasional clatter of tools had become a non-stop thing ever since Eleanor and the players started working here. Well, she spent most of the day in the Artificer Hall and the rest of the time in her workshop.

  Although there were quite a few players bustling about in the area, none of them noticed Victor as he strode toward the building. Recently, he had tried to make his presence more mysterious to the players and uphold his status as the powerful headmaster.

  Pushing the door open, he was greeted by the familiar wave of heat and the metallic tang of the air. The hall was a chaotic yet functional space, cluttered with half-finished projects, scattered blueprints, and contraptions whose purposes were a mystery even to him. Around fifty players were hard at work, each engrossed in their tasks.

  Near the largest blast furnace, Eleanor was hunched over several pieces of machinery, her goggles reflecting the orange glow of a welding torch. Sparks flew as she worked with precise movements, utterly engrossed in her task.

  It appeared that she was making more… golems?

  Victor walked behind her and cleared his throat as he dispelled the spell to reveal his presence. “I see you’re busy as always.”

  Eleanor glanced over her shoulder and turned around, a toothy smile spreading across her face as she pulled off her goggles. “Well, well, well. Look who finally decided to visit! Patron, if you’ve come to drop another impossible request on me, just know I’m already neck-deep in this mess.” She gestured toward the row of mechanical golems lined up beside her.

  The golems’ design was similar to the prototype she had built before, though they were distinct from the ones in the citadel. These had two elongated exhaust pipes protruding from their backs, giving them a more steampunk appearance.

  Victor stepped closer to inspect the mechanical golems. He was the one who had specifically requested Eleanor to create them as a way to integrate similar golems from the citadel into the academy’s workforce later. For now, however, the citadel still required its golems for self-repair, making this a necessary stopgap.

  “Hm, I wouldn’t dream of adding to your workload,” Victor said, a faint smirk on his lips. “Except that I do have something that might pique your interest.”

  Eleanor, already seeming to anticipate his words, straightened her posture with interest. “Go ahead. All the insane projects you’ve cooked up so far have never been boring.”

  With a smirk, Victor explained his latest request, watching as Eleanor’s expression shifted from curiosity to astonishment.

  “Instantaneous movement devices? You want me to create devices capable of holding teleportation formations?!” she exclaimed, incredulous.

  “Correct.” Victor nodded. “I want the device to take the form of something practical, like a floating stone, that the acolytes can use without requiring an official Magus to operate it or a mountain of mana crystals to power it. Is that within your capabilities?”

  The absurdity of the request could arguably be even more outlandish than crafting a dirigible. After all, the concept alone teetered on the edge of impossibility from the start.

  Even Eleanor was trembling—

  “Patron! You’re one heck of a slave driver, you know that?” She threw up her hands in exaggerated exasperation.

  Victor shrugged. “Well, if it’s beyond your ability, I understand—”

  “Nuh-uh-uh,” she interrupted, wagging a finger at him. “You’ve come to the right place, Patron. But this time, you’re going to help me personally. Otherwise, forget about even making a prototype!”

  Her request was reasonable. Even with her exceptional skills, creating something beyond the capability of even Elemental Adept Magi on her own was nearly inconceivable. Furthermore, Victor’s unique Cosmo elemental affinity made him indispensable for the task. Without the assistance of an Elemental Adept Magus like him, it simply wouldn’t be possible.

  “Mhm, I understand,” he agreed. “However, you should involve the acolytes as well. Their ingenious ideas might prove useful. I’ll also provide blueprints for reference and share some personal ideas to simplify the process.”

  A device like this wouldn’t have any existing blueprints available in the Artificer Hall. That said, there might be something useful hidden in the citadel’s library that could aid the endeavor.

  Eleanor tapped her chin thoughtfully. “Fine! But we’re going to need really, really rare, specialized materials, like voidstone. And let me guess — you want this done yesterday?”

  “‘Course not,” Victor rebutted with a smirk. “Who do you think I am? But wait, voidstone?!”

  “You heard me right! Things like this aren’t your ordinary magic devices.” She raised a finger as if emphasizing her point. “Not only are the materials extremely difficult to procure, the process of making them is also unimaginably hard.”

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  “Tch. I’ll try to come up with something about that…” Victor pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’ll also make sure you’re well-compensated for this one.”

  “Two full days of hugging sessions with Lizbeth and Lillie?”

  “One day,” Victor countered.

  “Deal!” Eleanor grinned, extending her hand for a shake. “All right, let’s get started. But don’t expect me to pull miracles overnight!”

  “I wouldn’t dream of it,” Victor replied, shaking her hand.

  Victor would have preferred compensating her with mana crystals or spell models. However, Eleanor’s contributions had earned her so many merit points that she could already exchange for as many mana crystals as she needed. Offering her anything else seemed redundant.

  “Speaking of which, do you have a name for this device?” Eleanor asked, nudging his shoulder with a mischievous grin.

  “How about ‘Teleportation Waypoint’?” Victor suggested. In his mind, the device’s appearance as a floating rock seemed fitting, but in essence, it would function as a stationary magic tool.

  “Sounds catchy.” She nodded. “Mm, then get back to me when you have everything prepared.”

  “Will do.” With those words, Victor turned to leave the Artificer Hall, weaving through the rows of players busy at their crafting stations.

  “Esteemed Headmaster!”

  “Sir Astralium!”

  “Respected sir!”

  “So that’s the rumored headmaster of the academy…”

  Players greeted him as he passed, mixed with awe and curiosity.

  “Strange. I’ve been watching the entrance this whole time. How did he get in without me noticing?” one player muttered.

  “Are you really sure you’re not just hallucinating your nonexistent waifu?” another retorted with a snicker.

  “That’s you!” the first player shot back indignantly.

  Victor put no mind to their banter as he exited the building.

  After completing the necessary preparations for the creation of the Teleportation Waypoint, Victor returned to his office in the afternoon. The citadel’s library did contain information about similar devices, but none of it included clear instructions on how to construct them. For now, he left the task to Eleanor and the players, trusting their ingenuity to devise a workable solution before moving forward.

  As for the problem of procuring voidstones, he couldn’t even find a trace of them after the expedition to Brightmoon City. However, he had a gut feeling that he might come across them sooner rather than later, be that through exploration or something as absurd as a reward from gacha or a mission from the System. Hopefully.

  On another note, the citadel’s assembly line had finally begun operating. While producing new golems was still beyond reach, repairs to the old ones had steadily progressed. At present, a total of one thousand mechanical golems were ready for deployment. However, the number of combat golems remained low, hovering in the low hundreds.

  That aside, another matter caught Victor’s attention:

  Mission: Figure Out Lillie’s Secrets

  Lillie is your personal apprentice, but she has not been entirely forthcoming about the mysteries surrounding her heterochromia. As her mentor, it is your responsibility to uncover the truth by whatever methods you deem fit.

  Type: Side mission

  Reward: An unknown grimoire

  This side mission had been sitting in the Headmaster’s Journal tab for a while, but Victor hadn’t made it a priority. Still, as he glanced at the mission details thoughtfully, a curiosity built up inside him. This was bound to be interesting.

  “Master, here’s your tea,” a familiar voice chimed.

  Victor looked up to see Lizbeth fluttering toward him, a steaming cup of tea floating effortlessly before her as it gently landed on his desk. Recently, with the opening of a trade channel between the academy and Brightmoon City, tea had become a newfound luxury. More than that, Lizbeth had proven herself to be an excellent tea brewer — something Victor suspected was a key reason behind Lillie’s recent enthusiasm for hosting tea parties.

  “Thanks, Lizbeth,” Victor said as he reached for the cup.

  “You’re welcome!” Lizbeth replied cheerfully. “Today’s brew is extra special.”

  Victor raised an eyebrow at her words but took a cautious sip. A tangy and familiar sweetness spread across his tongue, causing him to pause mid-drink. “Wait… this is…”

  Lizbeth grinned mischievously. “Surprise! It’s lemon tea! The players discovered some plants with similar fruit growing in the forest.”

  Lemons were not a common commodity in this part of the kingdom, making them exceedingly rare. Victor had never expected to taste lemon tea — his favorite kind of tea from his past life — here, of all places.

  Victor chuckled, setting the cup down. “Well, I suppose you can be accommodating sometimes, Liz.”

  Lizbeth harrumphed, crossing her arms with mock indignation. “Sometimes? I’ve always been very accommodating!”

  She then fluttered closer, curiously peeking at the holographic interface floating before Victor. “By the way, what were you looking at just now? Another one of those missions?”

  “That’s right.” Victor tilted the screen slightly toward her. “Just something about Lillie. Have you noticed anything strange about her?”

  “Anything strange?” Lizbeth’s eyes widened slightly before her lips curled into a sly smirk. “Actually, I have. Lillie’s definitely hiding something. There was this one time when I was checking the footage from her room — there was an unidentified dark figure, but I thought it was just my imagination, so I didn’t inform you…”

  She trailed off as Victor’s expression darkened in thought.

  As an Elemental Adept Magus, Victor’s senses were vastly superior to those of ordinary people. Without consciously using his mana sense, he could detect even the smallest changes within a ten-meter radius — further if he focused. For something to exist so close to him and remain completely undetected was a clear sign that he was dealing with an entity of total enigma.

  Just what was he dealing with here?

  “Perhaps the darkness in Lillie’s heart hasn’t been cured yet,” Victor mumbled. This “something” was likely to be an entity of unknown origin produced by her special constitution. But for such an entity to manifest, there must have been a trigger. The most likely factor was…

  “Her deceased family…” he said softly, a faint shiver running through him as the realization sank in. Whether he liked it or not, he was directly tied to the events that had caused her suffering.

  “What’s that?”

  “It’s nothing,” Victor replied, shaking his head. “What matters is finding a way to make her open up about it and solving this problem at its root. Got any ideas, Liz?”

  “If that’s what you want to do, then…” She whispered something into Victor’s ears, causing a small smile of interest to build up.