Setting Out

Fran is making her final attempt in her workshop.

She started the small Steam Engine on the table, and then immediately activated her Composite Spell, which was not yet displayed on the Panel.

White vapor not only billowed from the Steam Engine but also from Fran's body. This time, her Channeling Spell was successfully compressed to within 10 seconds, and the Magic Power consumed was finally like that of a normal First Order spell.

Then, she immediately stopped the Steam Engine running on the table, removed its heat source, and slowly cooled it down before detaching it from the motor.

A few seconds later, the Steam Engine's flywheel stopped, and the steam emanating from Fran gradually diminished, but the Magic Power required to maintain the spell increased exponentially.

"My spell, if the Steam Engine I create is running, then the power from that running will be fed back into my spell."

"This is a spell structure I took from Harbos's [Tool Enchantment]. No wonder no matter how I optimized it, I couldn't make it a complete spell."

Fran doesn't quite understand the specific principles yet. If she had a deep understanding of the structure of magic, she wouldn't have taken so long to discover this point.

"My future magical direction is determined when I advance in my Forge School mage Order. I need physical objects as references to assist my spells."

Fran couldn't help but feel a little regretful; she had realized this too late, rendering her previous actions to modify the spell's structure almost useless.

"However, now that we know this, the spell will be completed soon. All that's left is to make some improvements, and then it should appear on the Panel."

Fortunately, Fran has finally discovered the key method for constructing this spell. She only needs a little more time to complete it, then she can learn it through the Panel, increase her spell proficiency, and then consider advancing her advancement...

"I need to build a huge machine, or a large stack of small machines..."

Fran thought of the Antir Region, and a slight smile appeared on her lips.

"I never imagined I'd be doing so much in the Antir Region."

Fran raised an eyebrow. She knew that Antir's operation would be quite busy this time, and she might not even be able to finish everything by the time she went to the Floating City with Iris.

Originally, she planned to disregard everything else and first occupy the entire region of Antir before considering development.

Now, she has to consider the issue of development. Even if she works herself to the bone, she can't meet her needs in a short time.

She needs to consider a gradual approach, starting with developing the White Flower Territory a little.

At that moment, there was a knock on Fran's door. Fran turned around and used [Telekinetic Hand] remotely to open the door.

"Fran ..." Anna saw the door open, but Fran was still standing some distance away in the room. She paused for a moment, then shook her head, telling herself that this was normal.

Then she continued:

"Fran, it's time. We should set off. Aila and the others are already waiting outside the city."

Fran glanced at her watch, then slowly said:

"Wait me a moment."

As she spoke, she opened the yellow-and-white book beside her, pressed her hand down, and began to grow taller.

Outside the city, Brian looked at the walls of the Northern Lands Society and the towering furnace, its flames shooting straight into the sky, but without emitting a single wisp of black smoke.

Only after arriving here did he truly realize that the legendary Northern Lands Society was not a hoax, but a real entity.

Even knowing this, Brian did not regret not going directly to the Northern Lands Society back then.

Because he knew himself better than anyone else, he didn't have the courage to risk everything and walk into the snow. If he had to walk in the snow for five days, he could basically declare himself dead.

So even though the rumored Northern Lands Society was not far from his village, he would not risk everything to go to the Northern Lands Society.

Moreover, he might have already found a path comparable to the Northern Lands Society, he thought, gazing at the specks of white light emanating from his body.

These are symbols belonging to the followers of the Lord of Radiance. After Brian went to the Divine Statue and prayed all night, these white lights appeared on his body. He could feel that these white lights were strengthening his physique.

Although he is still some distance from becoming an apprentice-level Profession, he believes that with such an important position, he will definitely become an apprentice-level Profession if he continues to stay.

He could even become one of those legendary Profession who could travel to most parts of the continent.

Brian blinked and saw a figure in a white robe walk out of the city gate. He blinked quickly to make sure he wasn't hallucinating.

He saw the figure in white robes, radiating Radiance, exactly like the Proxy of that god, which puzzled him, leaving him unsure of what to do.

Just then, the believers beside him told him what to do; they all lowered their heads and chanted softly.

"Your Majesty the Proxy..."

Brian then clearly realized that the way of life for Deity Worshippers required little thought; they simply saw the symbol of Deity and bowed down in worship.

Their voices, carried by the Radiance, reached Fran's ears in unison, causing Fran to nod.

Before these people arrived, she specifically instructed them not to shout in unison to welcome her.

At the gates of the Northern Lands Society, there were still many native inhabitants of the Northern Territory. This situation made her feel quite awkward, especially at the gates of the mage city, which made her feel indescribably embarrassed.

This quiet welcome, in the eyes of others, simply makes these people seem mysterious.

Fran wasted no time; she spoke directly to Aila:

"Let's go now, no need to delay any longer."

Aila immediately called all the believers back to the carriages donated by the nobles of the Snow Bear Territory, which were made of Dire Wolf, a specialty of the Northern Territory.

Fran watched as the Dire Wolf slowly began to move forward under the whip, and she thought about how the transportation capacity of this world was still somewhat poor.

Not to mention some small countries, even within the Alliance, animal power is almost always used as the main source of transportation.

The mages of the Alliance are only interested in certain areas, so although the Alliance is more advanced than her previous world in some respects, it is still backward in many others.

Fran thought that perhaps she could design some means of transportation later, but it was too early to talk about that now.

Even if Fran created something herself, the world was full of rotten land, and the vehicles would probably break down after a few trips on those roads.

Fran shook her head. She should think about securing the resource source first. Even if Anna took over the mine, figuring out how to efficiently extract the minerals would still be a problem to solve.

Fran pretended to board the convoy's vehicle, and then, far away from the Northern Lands Society, she rode Black Horse that suddenly appeared from a distance.

In fact, many people in the Northern Lands Society already know her true identity, and many even know that this Black Horse horse is her.

If she rode the Black Horse out directly, it would be tantamount to revealing her identity, so she let the Black Horse go first, and then came out herself in a place far away from the Northern Lands Society.

Fran gazed eastward, contemplating the journey ahead.

"After passing through the Northern Territory Pass to reach the Antir Region, it will probably take at least three days..."

In the Antir Region, in the White Flower Territory, at the lord's castle, Finley is welcoming Count Ian, who can be said to have been the one to promote him to the position of lord.

Finley now holds a title, Viscount of the White Flower Territory, which is his noble title, but he also knows that this title is practically useless.

If it were a large country, it would be fine. The system of a large country is large enough to accommodate hundreds of people of the size of Duke Theodore. Before Duke Theodore rebelled, his territory occupied about a quarter of Antir.

In large countries, this size of territory is sufficient; even smaller territories can be considered the domain of an earl.

Their titles corresponded to territories, and their strength was generally commensurate with their titles.

Unlike the Antir region, where there were actually three other ducal titles, but which declined in history and whose territories were divided up by nobles of varying sizes.

However, due to historical reasons and the allocation of territories, the king did not revoke these titles even during peacetime.

This resulted in many counts and viscounts appearing impressive, but in the Antir Region, they mostly only managed small affairs within the town, and the size of their entire families was not very large.

In the Antir Region, the nobles are judged by their strength, and they generally only recognize the territory of the other party. Only those with the most powerful territories are the true nobles of Antir.

Because of Duke Theodore's failure to conquer the Royal Capital, Finley knew that Count Ian's current status was actually similar to his own, with no real distinction between superior and subordinate.

But Finley also knew that things weren't like that. Count Ian had always been a confidant of Duke Theodore, handling many matters for Duke Theodore, and was almost entirely aligned with Duke Theodore.

In addition, he recently heard that Duke Theodore had already divided several territories among Count Ian, and in a while, he might see Count Ian as a second-tier ruler.

Furthermore, he didn't quite understand why Count Ian had come to him at this crucial moment, so Finley adopted a very humble attitude.

"Viscount Finley, I have not come here for matters concerning Lorinvik. I trust you will remain loyal to Duke Theodore and send the prince's messenger back with a sincere letter."

"I'm here for another matter, also on the Duke's orders. He instructed me to stay here for the foreseeable future..."

Finley knew the other party didn't want to reveal the specific orders, but he still didn't understand what was in this godforsaken place.

Behind Ian, Finley also saw Maeve, the Alliance's Transmutation School mage, who had also conducted inspections during Knight's Duel.