As he spoke.
Xiao Xiao's hands never paused. He swiftly assembled copper rods, screws, cranks, and other components onto the Sinan base, forming a cannon-like structure around the Sinan.
The barrel was that monocular telescope.
Fine spiral patterns had been etched across the telescope's brass tube, vaguely forming the image of an immensely long Ouroboros. There was a knob at the rear of the tube, with a circle of Runes engraved around its outer edge.
Xiao Xiao twisted the knob to the third notch. With two crisp clicks, the entire telescope extended forward on its own, its original single tube becoming three sections in the blink of an eye.
Then he mounted the White Crystal lens he had polished for a long time at the very front of the tube—the muzzle.
There were also eight slender silver chains.
One end was tied around the barrel, binding the Ouroboros.
The other ends Fell On the Sinan base.
Unlike the telescope and connecting rods, the Sinan base was made of bronze. Its surface was engraved with the Four Symbols, Eight Trigrams, and the Star Chart of the Twenty-Eight Mansions. The eight silver chains connected to the trigrams in all eight directions.
"I still find it hard to believe."
Dylan shook his head, warily watching the Diviner bustle about. "How could The Alliance—or rather, the school—allow you to use something like this? I remember it being a strictly controlled forbidden item, wasn't it?"
"You said it yourself. It's a controlled forbidden item, not a forbidden item that can't be used."
Shaking his head, Xiao Xiao pulled another small box from his robes. Using tweezers, he picked out an extremely thin, nearly transparent film and carefully applied it to the White Crystal lens. At the same time, he said softly, "Control doesn't mean prohibition.