Today is a Special Day

The hilltop where the Weissen Family's castle stands is nearly a hundred meters higher than the city below. From the arrow tower of the castle's main building, the entire city and surrounding area are clearly visible.

On the towers of the city walls surrounding the castle, in addition to patrolling soldiers, there are several watchmen scattered around, keeping an eye on the city. If any sign of fire appears, they will blow their horns.

The cityscape has changed these past few days. Some magic streetlights have been installed on a few main roads. It's not brightly lit, but you can see the roads and the faces of pedestrians not too far away.

These streetlights were sponsored by a scholar at Weissenburg University and his students. Frederick didn't spend a single coin on materials or labor; it was essentially paying for advertising.

The magic lamp looks like a candle flame with a glowing magic circle inside. The cylindrical part below contains a magic circle that absorbs surrounding magic elements. When activated, the outside of the "flame" glows. Normally, it automatically absorbs energy and doesn't require additional power.

The base material for the magic circle is a cast iron cylinder with grooves for the magic circle. After filling the grooves with a magic conductor, another layer of tin alloy is cast around it. After polishing, it shines brightly, is very beautiful, and isn't afraid of low temperatures.

The materials for this magic lamp are very cheap, and the magic circle isn't considered advanced. The retail price is 2 Kreuzer silver coins, equivalent to 100 kilograms of wheat or 12 kilograms of animal fat candles. Buying one can last many years, and ordinary families can afford them.

Some cargo ships even buy a box to fix around the ship as warning lights, and several can be combined with a reflector to be used as a searchlight.

However, this magic lamp has core technology. The toggle switch for the household type has no technical content, but the material and process used to make the matchstick-sized light-sensitive magic resistor at the top of the "flame" is confidential. It's what enables the automatic start and stop of the streetlights.

Frederick welcomes this "high-tech industry." He not only had the carpentry shop charge only cost price for producing the streetlight poles but also became the first customer to purchase the product. He even waived the land rent for 5 years when they rented land to build a workshop.

With pioneers leading the way, many people at Weissenburg University are now getting ideas, researching whether the technology they possess can make money.

One evening, after practicing his martial arts and taking a bath, Frederick took a drawing board and stationery to the tallest arrow tower of the castle. From here, he could see the entire city.

The wall of the arrow tower had a magic lamp installed. He flipped the toggle switch to turn on the light, then stood by the parapet and drew the city, divided into blocks by the streetlights under the night sky, onto parchment.

After some time, Frederick smelled the fragrance of soap.

Psyche came up behind Frederick, bent down, looked at the parchment, and asked curiously, "What are you drawing this for?"

"I'm preparing to zone the city," Frederick said while drawing. "Different districts will be represented by different colors and numbers. If there's a fire, the corresponding colored and numbered lights will be lit on the city wall, so people in the city will know exactly where the fire is."

"Heh heh..." Psyche asked with a smile, "Are you saying you can color districts with common boundaries using only a few colors?"

A cross vein almost popped on Frederick's forehead.

"I only plan to use red, yellow, green, and blue to color the districts within a 90° range," he said. "Other colors aren't as noticeable."

"How boring," Psyche reached out and scratched the guy's head.

She walked to the parapet and sat down, pulling the hairpin from her bun. Her brown long hair fell like a waterfall, blown by the evening breeze and giving off a plant fragrance.

The entire arrow tower was quiet, with only the sound of the quill pen scratching against the parchment, and the distant sound of soldiers patrolling the city wall.

After some time, Frederick finished drawing the area in front of him and moved to the next parapet, where he saw Psyche's graceful figure in the moonlight.

She was wearing a plain dress, a simple tube dress with only a cheap colorful string tied around her waist as a belt. She was sitting sideways on the parapet, her legs bent, one hand resting on her knee, her body slightly turned outwards, and her head tilted back, gazing up at the deep starry sky.

"Am I beautiful?" Psyche suddenly asked him.

Frederick replied, "You're blocking my view."

Given his height, his line of sight was completely obstructed.

"Tsk..." Psyche said dismissively, "A cow eating peonies."

"What?" Frederick raised an eyebrow. "Do you want me to hit on you?"

Psyche chuckled twice and said in a very seductive voice, "You can try."

Frederick took a step back, made a gesture of holding a phone, and said, "Hello, is this the police?"

Psyche reacted to something from another world for the first time, the corners of her mouth curving slightly.

After the joke, Frederick walked to the other parapet and started drawing from that side.

After drawing half of the district in front of him, Psyche asked, "Do you have any plans for the future?"

Frederick replied, "Make money and marry a beautiful wife."

"That's it?" Psyche didn't believe him.

Frederick added, "Career and love."

"It's still the same thing," Psyche pouted and asked again, "Then what kind of woman do you consider beautiful?"

"There's no fixed standard," Frederick replied. "You'll know when you see them."

Psyche's eyes darted around, and she said with a smile, "Want me to introduce you to one?"

Frederick said in a monotone, "Ah, if only you were introducing yourself."

Psyche's face darkened as she asked him, "What, I'm not beautiful?"

Frederick said seriously, "My pelvis can't handle it."

"Of course," he continued, "if you can tell me why I shouldn't collect rags and old ropes, I'll grudgingly sacrifice myself."

"Tsk..." Psyche asked, "Don't I have any attraction to you?"

Frederick answered seriously, "I know my own strengths and weaknesses."

"You're boring," Psyche shook her head. As she spoke, her arm extended across the nearly 10-meter-wide arrow tower and scratched Frederick's head.

Frederick remained calm. If Psyche said she was a Slime that had gained sentience, he wouldn't be surprised.

"What about you?" Frederick asked. "Do you have any goals or anything?"

Psyche just sighed and said faintly, "You wouldn't understand even if I told you."

Frederick said, "How can you be sure I don't know if you don't tell me?"

Psyche just smiled and said, "Let's talk about it when you've mastered the issue of magic elements."

Then she changed the subject. "Think carefully about what Aumert said today; there's definitely something in there you'll be interested in."

Frederick didn't follow up on that. Although they hadn't known each other for long, his intuition told him that something was off with Psyche tonight. She usually didn't talk this much.

"You're acting a bit strange tonight," Frederick asked directly. "Did something happen?"

Psyche paused slightly, then smiled, looked up at the night sky, and said lightly, "Nothing, I just suddenly remembered that today is my birthday, I guess."

This time it was Frederick who was taken aback. He then packed up his things and went down the arrow tower.

Psyche listened to his departing footsteps, her expression unchanged.

Perhaps it was because she hadn't met someone with common ground in too long. Talking to him felt like going back to those carefree days of the past. Recalling those old days today made her more talkative.

As for Frederick, she didn't have any special feelings for him.

Their lifespans were on completely different scales. By the time grass grew low over his grave and cattle grazed there, she would still be bouncing around full of life.

Psyche gazed at the starry sky, remembering the day of her 64th birthday when her hundred-year-old father, lying in bed, ordered takeout and bought her a birthday cake for the last time. No matter how many sunrises and sunsets had passed since then, that moment was still etched deep in her soul.

"Thump, thump, thump..."

A rapid series of footsteps came from the stairwell, pausing just before reaching the top floor.

Frederick lit a candle before going up to the top floor. He held a tray and walked towards Psyche, saying with a smile, "Why didn't you say something so important sooner? Now I can only make do with this... Uh... Are you crying?"

He was surprised to see Psyche's eyes slightly red, two lines of tears tracing down her face and dripping from her chin onto her clothes.

"The wind was too strong just now," Psyche forced a smile and wiped the tears from her face with the back of her hand. "Sand got in my eyes."

Frederick said "Oh." At this point, whatever she said was fine.

Psyche looked at Frederick's hands. On the tray was an exquisite golden plate and a set of golden knife and fork. On the golden plate was a fist-sized hemispherical pastry, covered with a layer of slightly yellow-white cream, with a small beeswax candle the size of a little finger stuck on top.

"You think I'm only one year old?" Psyche pouted intentionally.

Frederick replied with a smile, "The Dao gives birth to One, One gives birth to Two, Two gives birth to Three, and Three gives birth to all things..."

He was glared at fiercely by Psyche and immediately shut up obediently.

Psyche jumped down from the parapet, blew out the candle, took the tray and placed it where she had been sitting. She picked up the knife and fork and cut off a piece of cream...

"Uh..."

Even after experiencing such a long time, this was the first time she had seen such a magical item.

Frederick scratched the back of his head and said somewhat awkwardly, "Now the only thing left in the kitchen is steamed buns being heated in the steamer. Fortunately, there's still cream, so just make do with this."

Psyche put the birthday bun into her mouth, a genuine smile appearing on her face. As she ate, she said, "Thank you."

Frederick smiled back and replied, "As long as you're happy."

Psyche hummed a tune from who knows where and finished the birthday bun.

She put down the knife and fork, licked her lips, turned around, and lifted Frederick by gripping his armpits with both hands.

"This is a return gift," Psyche said with a sly smile.

Frederick noticed her face getting closer and closer to his.

Psyche lowered her head, bringing their foreheads together, and whispered, "Relax, it's just a simple soul magic, 'Soul Copy-Paste'."

As soon as she finished speaking, Frederick suddenly felt his head swell, as if something was being forcibly stuffed into his brain.

Before he fainted, he seemed to hear something like "wabby wabbo".