Yi Aier's Worries

"Hoo..."

Yi Aier took her attention away from the blueprints in front of her and stretched languidly.

Recently, her workload has increased significantly. Although as a weapon, she doesn't suffer from physical deterioration due to continuous overwork like humans, mental fatigue is still unavoidable. As one of the Seven Ring Spirit Envoys, Yi Aier's primary task is to develop various magical weapons and equipment. As the weapon with the greatest destructive power among the seven, Yi Aier understands very well how magical power condenses, flows, and erupts to generate powerful lethality. It is precisely for this reason that Li Lin entrusted her with this work. Moreover, Yi Aier herself has an exceptionally strong interest in weapons, so she doesn't find these tasks tedious.

But even hobbies have their moments of fatigue.

"Ha... this thing is really complicated."

Staring at the blueprints before her, Yi Aier rubbed her head, her golden ponytail swaying slightly with the movement. What troubled Yi Aier right now wasn't anything else, but the "secret weapon" the Federation had used against Angela's undead army. After conquering the city, Angela had given it to Li Lin, and after hearing Angela and Kalin's descriptions, Li Lin was also very curious about the weapon. Therefore, the task of disassembling and studying it fell to Yi Aier.

Disassembling the weapon wasn't difficult for the twin-tailed maid, but the next task completely stumped her, who was known as a "weapons expert."

Frankly, Yi Aier looked down on all the weapons of this era. Not only did they lack magical power, but their destructive power was also extremely limited. Like in the battle in Casablanca City, facing Anna's floating city, those ignorant humans actually used catapults to bombard it—this was simply beyond Yi Aier's comprehension. What a joke! Catapults! Catapults! While the fall of the Magic Empire did indeed cause a significant loss of civilization, it shouldn't have led to this level of backwardness.

However, compared to those extremely rudimentary weapons, the Federation's weapon was different. Since it was a secret weapon, it naturally wouldn't disappoint so easily. However, to Yi Aier's surprise, the complexity of this thing exceeded her imagination. It was as if the goal could have been achieved through a simple method, but the other party deliberately took several long detours and set up some unnecessary obstacles.

It must be said that the design concept of allowing ordinary people to use it without relying on the power of mages is commendable. But... what's with this damn complicated design?!

As Yi Aier threw down the pen, she sighed, then her gaze moved downwards to her chest.

It's unclear whether the Seven Ring Spirit Envoys' bust size is directly proportional to their combat strength, but there's no doubt that "Hymn of Destruction," possessing the strongest attack power, also boasts the most impressive bust among the Seven Sisters. It is precisely for this reason that Angela bestowed upon her the title "Big Cow" without reservation, which, although it sounds rather impolite, is a perfect description.

"This is so heavy..."

Yi Aier stretched her aching shoulders, frowned and complained, then stretched out her hands and gently pressed them against her chest.

"Miss Angela said that rubbing like this can make it smaller... but it doesn't work at all."

Despite muttering complaints, Yi Aier began her daily "must-do" task (every day after Angela's intentional or unintentional prank, the poor little maid had clearly taken it seriously).

As she moved, Yi Aier felt strange sensations in her chest. She gritted her teeth but didn't stop what she was doing. And soon, something that had almost become an essential part of her daily life resurfaced in the little maid's mind.

"Hehehe, cute little one, what are you doing here?"

"Ah, you, who are you? Don't come any closer, I didn't do anything!"

"You didn't do it? Then where are your hands? Oh dear? There seems to be something on them that shouldn't be there?"

"What are you doing...? No...!!"

"Hehe, this is delicious! This nectar is so sweet..."

"Don't lick there, it's so embarrassing..."

"To be frank, you want it too, don't you? Look how big your legs have grown."

"No, your first time is for someone you like, not for a pervert like you!!"

"Well said. So, aren't you a pervert for doing something like this here?"

"You...!!"

"Hehehe, don't worry, lovely lady, I, this bee, will gather your sweetly fragrant stamens!"

"No!!!"

"Knock knock knock."

"Ah------!!"

The sudden knocking brought Yi Aier back to reality from her daydream. She quickly jumped up, hurriedly tidied her clothes, and then breathed a long sigh of relief after confirming that everything was alright.

"Oh my god... here we go again..."

After tidying her clothes, Yi Aier patted her face, muttering a complaint to herself. However, this was understandable for the poor maid. Back in the Magic Empire, Yi Aier's regular job was washing her master's clothes and sheets. Because of this, she had the opportunity to witness firsthand the impressive achievements of Arcane Mage in another area. Although a woman, she was essentially a weapon, and Yi Aier had no idea how to do such things, let alone understand how clothes and sheets could end up like that. She wanted to ask Suoxiate or Nia to find out, but her girlish innocence ultimately prevented her from asking (even if she did, she probably wouldn't get an answer), and Yi Aier wasn't bold enough to spy on Li Lin's nighttime activities. Over time, in order to find the answer, the girl began a cycle of reprocessing information she gleaned in her spare time, ultimately developing this terrifying capacity for fantasy.

After making sure she hadn't acted inappropriately, Yi Aier walked to the door and opened it.

"Ah, Master."

Standing outside the door was Li Lin. He looked curiously at Yi Aier's slightly flushed cheeks, then shrugged.

"How is the situation?"

"I have finished parsing."

As she spoke, Yi Aier lowered her head slightly, turned around and welcomed Li Lin into the studio. On the huge desk in front of them, there were messy drawings piled up.

"According to Miss Angela, I examined the weapon and the ammunition it used, and then I discovered the problem."

As she spoke, Yi Aier casually picked up a blueprint and placed it in front of Li Lin.

"Contrary to your idea, Master, the cannonballs used by these cannons contain highly compressed magical crystal powder. According to my investigation, after being subjected to violent vibrations, this already unstable compressed powder will generate energy and then explode. This is the central part of this weapon. As for the firing system, it uses the same principle, but with a smaller amount of magical crystal powder to prevent damage to the cannon body. The explosive force generated when they explode will propel these cannonballs into the air before they fall. Because a soft material like cotton is used at the rear, the cannonballs will not explode when fired."

"A very convenient thing."

Hearing this, Li Lin frowned slightly.

"That's right."

Yi Aier nodded, but then her expression turned somewhat puzzled.

"However, I suspect that this is not technology owned by the Federation itself."

"Oh?"

"Please look, Master."

As she spoke, Yi Aier picked up several more blueprints.

"There are five of these weapons in total. Their barrel height, width, the strange spiral patterns inside, and the overall metal composition ratio have all been consistent after testing. However, this is very strange. Logically, the development of such weapons should have some underlying principles. A structure that fuses copper, iron, and crystal in specific proportions to create a sturdy barrel could be equally effective in other weapon manufacturing. But the armor worn by the soldiers and the weapons they use still employ relatively outdated methods, which is extremely odd. Instead of going to such lengths to manufacture just a few cannons, why not apply this metal mixing method to more meaningful military applications? While crystal is relatively more difficult to obtain, these soldiers are the elite guarding their country's capital; such waste shouldn't exist."

"Well said."

As Li Lin stared at the design on the blueprints, his expression grew increasingly serious.

"Anything else?"

"The design itself also has problems."

Yi Aier pointed to a section in the center of the drawing.

"This structure, at first glance, seems designed to maintain the balance of the cannon barrel, but in reality, even without it, the weight of the barrel itself wouldn't cause it to tilt or fall over. On the contrary, this design is a completely pointless addition that only complicates the overall design. Weapons need to be streamlined and easy to manufacture to be meaningful. There are far too many such cumbersome and meaningless structural parts in the design. If this weapon were truly manufactured by them, these meaningless redundancies should have been eliminated long ago."

"Produced in Imperial Year 873... it's about two or three hundred years old now... Indeed, it's illogical that there haven't been any improvements over such a long period. So, according to you, why do these excess parts appear?"

"In my opinion, it's very likely that the manufacturers don't want the Federation to possess this technology."

Yi Aier made her decision without hesitation.

"The mixing ratio of the metals, the manufacturing process of the cannon barrel, and the strange patterns inside all require strict requirements and skills. These are simply impossible to achieve without accumulated practical experience. If this isn't Federation technology, then it makes sense. After all, if the metals weren't mixed in this way, and it were simply made using ordinary casting, the cannon barrel would break under the pressure of explosive firing. Furthermore, if it was provided by someone else, it explains the existence of those extra parts."

After all, when the Magic Empire sells weapons, it takes the same thing into consideration. In order to prevent the other party from mastering its military skills, it is perfectly normal to add some deceptive means and technologies to the products it sells.

"Very good."

After receiving a specific, detailed, and comprehensive answer from Yi Aier, Li Lin finally smiled.

The current question is, which country possesses this technology?

Dideyasi was ruled out first. Although Catherine hadn't fully taken control of the country yet, she couldn't possibly have been completely unaware of such important weapons development. The Vila Federation didn't seem like a country with the technology to manufacture such weapons. Kudel was harder to say; as the wealthiest nation in the Five-Nation Alliance, it had the resources to conduct such research, but whether it could reach that level was uncertain. As for Lalia —according to the little guy, they didn't have such a thing.

Or perhaps... this thing doesn't belong to this world at all.

Although this thing was giving Yi Aier a headache, Li Lin had already seen through the problem. By simply changing its power source, it was essentially a cannon from Earth; although some had made improvements, the basic principles didn't seem to have changed much. Yi Aier's current analysis further confirmed Li Lin's idea. Weapons like this required large-scale research, development, and testing before they could be assembled into new products. For them to appear out of thin air like this was itself an incredible thing.

"Owner?"

Watching Li Lin deep in thought, Yi Aier asked curiously. She didn't know that Li Lin had just finished Astral Plane Meeting before coming here.

Perhaps because the God of Justice had been so overwhelmed by him recently, these gods, who were usually hiding, were much more enthusiastic about attending this meeting than before. And it was because of this that Li Lin was finally able to find out why these gods were afraid of the God of Justice.

Just as Li Lin had thought, if it were merely a deity, these gods would have plenty of ways to defeat or even destroy the God of Justice. However, this deity was different from the others. This was simply because this deity had two very strange characteristics.

The power of immunity and the power of devouring.

For some unknown reason, the power of other gods was completely ineffective before him. No matter how powerful a god was, they could not mobilize their divine power to harm him. At the same time, the God of Justice could forcibly absorb the power of other gods to replenish himself. According to the Lady of Secrets, when he was still Lesser God, a Greater God tried to destroy him, but unexpectedly, his power was completely absorbed by him. Then, that Greater God was defeated, and his divine office and power were absorbed and digested by the God of Justice, allowing him to leap directly from a Lesser God to the ranks of Greater God.

Such an event was bound to attract the attention of the other gods. In fact, after that, many gods attempted to eliminate, even joining forces to destroy this suddenly appearing new god. However, they all failed without exception, and their fates were all the same—they were stripped of their divine power and divine office, and then became pitiful members of the Astral Plane junkyard. In the end, only those gods who were cautious by nature survived, and managed to escape and hide themselves before the God of Justice could launch a counterattack.

However, the remaining gods are completely unaware of how this God of Justice attained godhood. Even the Lady of Secrets, who claims to know all the secrets of the multiverse, can only provide the information that the former God of Justice died suddenly during a descent of a saint, for reasons unknown. As for what exactly happened in between, she has no idea.

Based on these clues, Li Lin felt that things were not quite ordinary, and he became increasingly curious about the identity of that God of Justice.

"Owner?"

Li Lin only snapped out of his thoughts when Yi Aier stretched out a hand and waved it in front of him.

"Your analysis is spot on, Yi Aier. Very well done."

"Of course."

Hearing Li Lin's praise, Yi Aier put her hands on her hips and puffed out her chest proudly.

"I am one of the Seven Ring Spirit Envoys, how could I possibly not be able to handle such a small matter?"

"But speaking of which, I heard from Nia that you're designing new magical weapons?"

"Yes, Master."

Upon hearing this, Yi Aier immediately perked up. She hurriedly rushed to the desk, searched through the complex drawings for a moment, then pulled one out and proudly displayed it in front of Li Lin.

Please take a look!

"..."

Looking at the design on the blueprints in front of him, Li Lin's lips twitched slightly. He seemed to be trying hard to suppress his emotions, and then asked in a calm tone.

"What's this?"

"Isn't that great?"

Yi Aier pointed excitedly at the blueprints.

"I got my inspiration from the design of carriages. You see, we can stretch and enlarge the carriages, remove the wheels, and use levitation magic and the power of the core to propel them forward. Then, we can equip them with small magical turrets! In this way, as long as we can reinforce the carriages, mages can manipulate them to charge directly into the midst of thousands of troops! Just add a lightning protection layer, and that will be enough to keep soldiers at bay. Combined with the fire from the magical turrets, it will surely bring about a glorious victory!"

"... You're not planning to call this thing a tank, are you?"

"A guest to talk to? What's that? The host?"

It seems that even Yi Aier has things she doesn't understand at all.