Apprentice Combat Artificer of the Silverwood Spear

"Miss Etila, I can't afford it..." Fang Heng said in a low voice.

But Etila shook her head at him, winked subtly, and signaled him to keep watching.

Fang Heng could only watch Tian Lan continue the performance.

Tian Lan slowly walked past the luxurious equipment and stopped beside a 'Kingfisher' Alpha magic furnace. This was also an AE type magic furnace, produced by the Kingfisher Workshop of the Kingdom of Kaolin, known for its stability and mature design.

She placed her small hand on its blued outer shell and said, "Then we'll choose this magic furnace."

The dwarf was stunned. "Wait, didn't you say you wanted to buy—?"

He suddenly stammered at that point.

Tian Lan feigned innocence and asked back, "What did we say we wanted to buy?"

The other party was dumbfounded for a moment, only then realizing he had been tricked. Although the expert model magic furnaces of the 'Kingfisher' Alpha series were also priced in the tens of thousands, as a mature product line, they no longer had much of a premium. If he sold it at an 80% discount, he feared he would suffer a great loss.

"This is against the rules!" the little dwarf said, somewhat exasperated.

"Don't be so surprised," the young girl shrugged. "If you hadn't tried to take advantage, this wouldn't have happened. Besides, isn't this a win-win situation?"

"Win-win?"

Tian Lan replied solemnly, "As a qualified merchant, even unrealized profits must be considered part of the profit. At the same discount, your losses would be much greater compared to the 'Central Nervous System' versus the 'Kingfisher' Alpha. And we are unwilling to bear such high, unnecessary premiums. So, rather than a lose-lose, I prefer a win-win—"

The dwarf was stunned for a long while, and actually nodded. "That's an incredible way of putting it, but very interesting, very interesting. Alright, you've convinced me. I agree to this transaction."

He looked at Fang Heng again and said in a shrill voice, "This thing is yours, you poor kid."

Fang Heng, however, felt like he was sitting on pins and needles. He really wanted to tell Tian Lan that even if it were tens of thousands of Riser, he couldn't afford it. His original goal was an ancient Type II magic furnace. Who knew things would turn out like this?

If only the Type II magic furnace was 80% off, I could save up the rest of the money to buy that Silver Blaze Forest Eyeball...

Fang Heng thought shamelessly.

He was blushing, unsure how to speak. Just then, Etila, who was beside him, stepped forward and said, "I'll pay for it."

Fang Heng froze.

Before he could react, Etila had already completed the transaction efficiently. She held the 'Kingfisher' Alpha magic furnace with both hands and said to Fang Heng with mock seriousness, "This is team property, you must take good care of it, Ed."

But she winked at him from the side, signaling him to come and take the item.

Fang Heng opened his mouth. He knew that Etila and the others weren't exactly well-off. Otherwise, when Tian Lan wanted to spend a little more money earlier, the elven lady wouldn't have said "let this be the last time."

Tens of thousands of Riser, it was almost all the team's assets, which was about the price of this magic furnace. And he wasn't even a member of this team, so how could there be any team property?

He said hesitantly, "Miss Etila, I..."

But Etila walked over, lowered her head, and whispered in his ear, "Don't rush to refuse. This was the unanimous decision of everyone on the team."

Fang Heng was stunned again.

"You saved everyone's lives. This is what you deserve," Etila looked at him, her emerald green eyes very calm. "I can make the decision for Parker, and no one else objected."

"But..."

Etila handed the item to him. "Take it. Everyone has difficult times. In the forest, one rule is that we must help each other to survive. This is also the teaching of the goddess—kindness and helping others."

Fang Heng felt the weight in his hands and asked in surprise, "You, how did you know...?"

"Your privacy settings are public to the team. Fuli and the others can see it."

"Ah?" Fang Heng was startled and quickly opened the privacy page, only to find that it was set to public for the team by default. He blushed. Fortunately, not much was public, mainly his financial situation and the equipment he was wearing.

Etila looked at him, shook her head, and sighed, "You and he are exactly the same, muddle-headed. Be very careful in the future and don't easily reveal your financial situation to others."

Fang Heng nodded with a red face.

But he was thinking, Does "he" refer to her brother?

Everyone walked out of the Kaolin Merchant Alliance's office one after another.

The last 'Kingfisher' Alpha magic furnace was sold for thirty-eight thousand Riser. Although the dwarf was cunning, he was still a businessman and cut off the odd numbers for them.

Out of gratitude, Fang Heng also used the remaining money to buy a Silver Blaze Forest Eyeball from him at the original price. This earned him high praise from the dwarf, who also gave him a set of used core crystals that could be used for levels three to seven of this specification.

This made Tian Lan very unhappy and she secretly told him that the crystal was almost scrap and worthless. However, Fang Heng didn't mind. The magic furnace sold did not come with a core crystal, and the other party's unintentional gesture actually saved him in a pinch.

After all, a brand-new set of crystals would cost at least one or two thousand at the lowest.

"But I really didn't expect you to be so amazing, Tian Lan," Fang Heng said.

Honestly, he was quite fond of this 'Kingfisher' Alpha. Although it was far inferior to the magic furnace from the Imperial Workshop, thirty-eight thousand Riser was still an expensive piece of equipment he had never used before.

In the past six months, all the money he had earned, plus his entire outfit, probably wouldn't even be half the price of this magic furnace. Regardless of anything else, if someone were to spend tens of thousands in Dawnstar to buy a magic furnace, Miss Scarpe would probably beat them half to death for being so wasteful.

"Of course," Tian Lan said proudly. "You haven't seen what I'm truly capable of yet, Brother Ed."

"Miss Fuli spends money, but she is indeed good at making it. If only... if only she wasn't so impulsive. Some money is spent unnecessarily," Jita added softly.

"Ha, what did you say?" Tian Lan raised her voice, looking at Jita.

Jita was so scared that she didn't dare to speak.

Etila glared at her and reiterated, "Don't bully Jita."

Tian Lan stuck out her tongue at her. "Nyah nyah nyah..."

Fang Heng gently stroked the sky-blue dome of the 'Kingfisher' Alpha, which was adorned with silver ivy reliefs along the edges. Below these were five interfaces, arranged in order: one large mana crystal interface, two medium recharge interfaces, one medium main interface, and one small auxiliary interface.

The shell design of the 'Kingfisher' Alpha made this Magic Furnace slightly heavier than the one from the Imperial Workshop, weighing around 2.7 kilograms. However, this also brought an improvement in durability.

The 'Kingfisher' was characterized by its exquisite cooling system, a technical advantage that Kaolin-Ishurian held over Ausch that could not be matched. Its style pursued stability and continuity, a stark contrast to the radical and genius design of the 'Central Nervous System.'

Fang Heng compared this professional-grade Magic Furnace with his original one and concluded there was no comparison. The performance improvement was at least threefold, exceeding his original target of a Type II Magic Furnace by fifty percent.

Holding this item, he felt like he had upgraded from a slingshot to a cannon.

As the most crucial core equipment, the improvement of a Magic Furnace yielded the most significant benefits for any profession—and Combat Artificers were no exception.

A key indicator of a Combat Artificer's strength was the number of Flexible Constructs they could control, but this actually involved two criteria.

One was the Combat Artificer's own talent.

The other was the Combat Artificer's level and equipment.

The Combat Artificer's own talent was naturally the most fundamental, but level and equipment were also quite important.

Among these, level (including skills and knowledge) determined the quality and efficiency of the 'computation' attribute. The latter, in turn, determined the efficiency with which the Chosen's system assisted in manipulating Flexible Constructs. The higher the efficiency, the lighter the burden on the Combat Artificer, allowing them to control more complex Flexible Constructs without a doubt.

This was only the factor of level. As for the focus within equipment, it lay in the performance of the Magic Furnace.

A basic rule was that for every unit of mana output by the core crystal of a Flexible Construct, the Combat Artificer had to output an equivalent amount of mana during manipulation. Therefore, the output limit of the Magic Furnace actually determined the upper limit of a Combat Artificer's control over Flexible Constructs.

Fang Heng had previously experimented with five-line control, but if they were actual Clockwork Sprites, he wouldn't be able to control them—not due to a lack of manipulation skill, but because his main core crystal couldn't support such high mana expenditure.

Moreover, superior Magic Furnaces didn't just manifest in improved basic attributes; more diverse interfaces also allowed Combat Artificers to use more auxiliary Magic Devices in combat.

For instance, the common Magic Balancer could reduce the mana expenditure of a Combat Artificer when manipulating Flexible Constructs, effectively increasing the Magic Furnace's output power.

There was also the Balance Compensation Framework, which could further enhance the bonuses of the Combat Artificer's own perception and intelligence attributes on Flexible Constructs. (Note: Non-Mind Flexible Constructs did not have a mind attribute; they inherited the manipulation user's mind attribute bonus.)

Then there was the Engineering Shield Generator. This shield generator wasn't for the Combat Artificer's personal use but could remotely recharge shields for Flexible Constructs.

And so on and so forth. An excellent Magic Furnace could exponentially increase a Combat Artificer's strength.

"Mr. Ed, can I take a look at it?" Jita said enviously from the side.

Fang Heng nodded and handed the 'Kingfisher' Alpha over with both hands.

Jita took the Magic Furnace and, with a touch of adoration, caressed its beautiful shell with her small hands.

"Hold it steady, that's nearly forty thousand Riser," Tian Lan couldn't help but remind the little boy.

Jita cast a weak glance at her, looking very wronged. Fang Heng's face flushed slightly, and he said in a low voice, "It's nothing, that thing isn't heavy."

But he understood in his heart.

The envy in the other's eyes wasn't due to the value of the Magic Furnace itself but stemmed from her yearning for the status of a formal Chosen—tourists couldn't use such professional Magic Furnaces.

Fang Heng completely understood this feeling and even empathized with it.

His own identity change had only happened two days ago.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but say softly to Jita, "You'll be able to use one like this one day, maybe even a better one."

Jita looked up at him with a hint of surprise and then nodded vigorously, "Mm."

He lowered his head again and said softly, "Congratulations, Brother Ed, this is actually a very excellent Magic Furnace."

Fang Heng noticed the subtle change in the other's address. His heart felt genuinely warm. Although he hadn't known them for even a day, it unexpectedly reminded him of his days at Dawnstar.

Tian Lan chirped for him to install the Magic Furnace and test how much of an improvement it made—and the primary method for a Combat Artificer to test a new Magic Furnace was, frankly, multi-control.

Fang Heng himself wanted to try it out.

Of course, he wouldn't do something as astonishing as five-control; he had that much sense. He planned to try dual-control—if others didn't know his level, dual-control wouldn't be that eye-catching.

He was about to ask if there was anywhere nearby to rent Clockwork Sprites—Clockwork Sprites, due to their characteristic of not requiring the user to have Magic Adaptability, were not just tools in Aethelria but more akin to toys.

Making a Clockwork Sprite fly wasn't difficult; anyone with some basic knowledge of Magic Devices could do it. What was difficult was sustained and stable control. Thus, competing over who could control them better and for longer had become a trend on the continent—especially in the Ausch Empire, where there were even related competitions.

Of course, these competitions were for ordinary people, and generally, ordinary Alchemists, let alone Combat Artificers, were not allowed to participate.

And precisely because of this trend, there were rental shops for Flexible Constructs almost everywhere people gathered.

But at this very moment, two hurried youths came in from outside the inn. They seemed to pass by Fang Heng's group without much of a glance. However, because they were walking too fast, one of the youths behind bumped into Jita, who let out a startled cry and almost fell to the ground.

Jita clutched the 'Kingfisher' Alpha tightly, clearly frightened, her face pale. However, the youth who bumped into her not only didn't apologize but turned around and irritably complained, "Can't you watch where you're going?"

Fang Heng immediately got angry. They hadn't moved an inch from their spot, yet the other person had bumped into someone and was acting so self-righteously.

Tian Lan exploded even more, raising her voice, "You've got some self-awareness, haven't you? Can't you watch where you're going?"

The youth seemed taken aback that these idle adventurers dared to talk back. He paused for a moment before asking with a dark expression, "What did you say?"

Fang Heng immediately reached for his backpack behind him—where his Walker was stored.

However, Etila, from behind, grabbed both him and Tian Lan, saying in a low voice, "Don't fight here, they're from the Silverwood Spear."

At this point, Fang Heng had also recognized their battle attire—

Just then, the youth's companion returned. Without even looking at Fang Heng's group, as if they were invisible, he said, "Hurry up, we're going to be late."

The perpetrator nodded, but before leaving, they glanced at Jita and couldn't help but scoff, "A piece of junk Magic Furnace worth tens of thousands, treated like a treasure." With that, they turned and left with their companion.

Tian Lan's lungs were about to explode from anger. She wanted to go argue with them, but Etila wouldn't allow it. She couldn't help but say indignantly, "Sister Etila, let me go! I'm going to fight those two arrogant idiots!"

Etila shook her head.

But Fang Heng also glanced at the former and gently put his hand down. He had clearly heard the elven lady say not to fight here, so it was obvious where they should fight— he clearly understood the elven lady's implied meaning.

At this moment, however, Jita quietly said, "Their Magic Furnace..."

Fang Heng nodded silently.

It was a 'Central Nervous System' AEM type, a military version Combat Artificer Magic Furnace.

The other party was also a newcomer Combat Artificer.

Both of them were.