Advancement

This time, Vereesa had not been away for long either. After only one night, her family came and dragged her back. Once they named her parents, she obediently surrendered. Shane received several hostile glares.

"Dawnblades, go die!" That was what those looks said.

Shouldn't it be 'all normies, go die'? Shane thought.

After they parted, Shane threw himself back into studying the arcane, while the construction of the construct creature entered its practical stage. His relationship with the other mages in the mage tower remained one of passing acquaintances. Everyone had their own matters to attend to. The benefit was that Shane could use the construct workshop for a long time without being disturbed.

"Mage Shane, you have the right to use it for thirty days. After thirty days, you may continue using it only if no other mage needs it."

The underground levels were also managed by construct creatures. After scanning the thirty copied scrolls Shane had submitted, it moved aside and opened the passage. Small puppets in the underground warehouse helped carry the materials.

There was no such thing as free among high elf spellcasters. Shane had paid dearly for the usage rights. His purse had shrunk by half, and eight hundred gold coins had sprouted wings and flown away.

This isn't an era of currency devaluation. In my previous life, I'd have had to farm crocodiles for days, he joked to himself. He directed the puppets to sort and store the materials, then began crafting.

The blueprint was not some fanciful product of the library. It was a "reliable" design produced through repeated revisions with the Eye of Truth's assistance.

"Eye of Truth, begin assisting according to the procedure."

"Yes. Task initiated. Arcane energy circuit material smelting begins. According to the materials in Constructed Creature Materials Science, mithril, thorium, and truesilver—three arcane-affinity materials—will be used to create the arcane energy circuit. Eighty kilograms of metal materials are required, at a ratio of 5:1:2. Step one: fuse them at a high temperature of 2,000 degrees, stirring at 180 revolutions per minute for three thousand revolutions."

Each metal ingot weighed five kilograms. He selected the necessary materials and placed them into the high-temperature furnace, waiting for them to melt. Then he fed mana into the control apparatus. Shane's advantage in control became apparent. Combined with the Eye of Truth, even textbooks could not match his precision.

"Step two: remove the liquid metal and flash-freeze it at minus fifty degrees for 1,123 seconds."

The three thousand revolutions were completed. He immediately opened the sealed furnace, removed the container from the furnace core, and placed it into the cooling furnace.

"Is the mana output sufficient?"

"The user's mana control is extremely precise. Please maintain it. Step three is to repeat the first and second steps ten times in succession. During the final cycle, cool it directly in the cooling furnace until it completely solidifies. Please note, this device will provide a warning ten seconds before completion."

"10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Remove the liquid alloy. Begin repeating step one."

The container was placed back into the high-temperature furnace. You never understood how easy knowledge was to learn and how difficult it was to put into practice until you actually did it. Compared with understanding the theories, practical knowledge required more than ten times the sweat.

By the fifth and sixth cycles, fatigue struck. Fortunately, years of training his spell control meant such minor difficulties would not affect the stability of his mana output.

By the seventh and eighth cycles, he was practically gritting his teeth to endure. Under absolute concentration, he meditated while maintaining the output. With the Sunwell's radiance present, he could swiftly replenish his magic through meditation, but it did nothing to restore his mental and physical fatigue.

"User, would you like this device to take over control? Assisted control will reduce mental consumption by 80%."

"No. You may take over only if my consciousness becomes blurred."

"Understood."

His mental and physical strength was being drawn out like strands of silk, diminishing and weakening by the moment, yet this was not his limit. With the Eye of Truth assisting him should his awareness falter, he had nothing to worry about. He put everything into completing the final two smelting cycles. Shane did not know whether his consciousness had reached bottom, but as the last traces of his mental strength were drained away, he felt something like a membrane. Fine yet unceasing mental energy seeped in from beyond it.

"Detected: the user's abilities are increasing."

Ignoring the Eye of Truth, Shane focused all his remaining mental energy on the final step, letting the liquid metal solidify completely. The mental energy seeping through the membrane was like droplets of water scattered over a fish about to dry up, becoming the strength that kept him going.

Finally.

"Detected: the metal has completely solidified. The user may cease output."

"Whew..." Shane no longer had the strength even to raise a hand. His mind went blank, yet the mental energy beyond that membrane continued to seep through. Every bit that entered caused the membrane to vanish a little more. He was advancing—advancing to the fourth circle.

Advancement did not take much time. After sitting quietly for half an hour, the membrane vanished. A tide of mental energy surged in, yet it could not fill the bottomless chasm. Until he touched the threshold of another advancement, the sensation was one of boundlessness. His mana was also rapidly replenished by that tide of mental energy, surpassing its former capacity until it had doubled.

When had his last advancement been? Two years ago. For the past two years, he had trained his spellcasting techniques every day, continued studying knowledge without pause, and never missed a single day of meditation.

"Fourth-circle spells can be obtained from the library later." Shane calmly rose to his feet. "Eye of Truth, begin scanning."

The metal alloy lay on the experiment table, cold vapor billowing from it.

"Scan initiated~~ New crystals discovered. The atoms of the three metals are periodically arranged in three-dimensional space, forming three crystals with unequal faces and creating a lattice. This is the arcane energy conduction lattice recorded in the database. Distribution is uniform and dense. Production successful."

Joy restored a little of his strength, but he still lacked the energy to continue. Shane called up the blueprint in his mind. "Eye of Truth, aside from the arcane energy circuit material, how long will the remaining work take?"

"To complete the blueprint, twelve thousand kilograms of armor plates, three thousand kilograms of support skeleton, and five hundred kilograms of material for joints and other moving parts are required."

"What is the workload?"

"Excluding the armor plates, ten days are required. It is recommended that the user rest for twelve hours before continuing the process."

Shane was truly exhausted. He collapsed in the workshop's lounge and fell soundly asleep. Flesh and blood could not compare to machines, nor was stamina infinite. Fortunately, the most difficult step in material production had already been completed. The armor plates could be outsourced for money. The skeletal materials and joints needed hardened steel, while shaping could be done directly in molds.

At that moment, the mages remaining in the library all sensed a subtle change in the tower's arcane energy: its total energy level had risen slightly. Someone had advanced, and it was in the puppet workshop—the newcomer who had arrived not long ago.

Shane did not know anyone had noticed him. When he awoke, his fatigue had recovered, and only his stomach was growling. He left the underground workshop, grabbed a quick meal, and continued working.

"Mage Shane, do you have a moment?"

"Mage Capernian, what is it?"

He encountered his colleague in the dining area. The red-robed mage felt different from the last time they met. Her thighs were deliberately exposed beneath her robe, and her cleavage rose high, as though saying, Take me, take me.

"There's a party. Would you like to come? The participants are all spellcasters like us."

What does she want? Shane thought as he said, "Not interested. Goodbye."

Without looking at the female mage's expression, he turned and left.

"User, why did you not accept the invitation? This device has detected that the female elf Capernian falls within the category of men's romance," the Eye of Truth suddenly said in his mind.

"What?" Shane felt that the Eye of Truth had gotten something wrong.

"The user's gaze lingered on female elf Capernian's thighs and mammary organs for 0.5 seconds, triggering a hot-blooded response."

"Shut up!"

"Understood."