Sellen had just rushed over from the academy.
As the Queen of the Full Moon and Lloyd had mentioned earlier, the major project she'd been working on was finally nearing completion. Today, the finished product was ready, and they were preparing to conduct its first test run.
Since it was the result of everyone's combined efforts, the people from the Grand Library had all gone over to witness it, which was why no one had been left behind when Lloyd arrived.
As one of the primary designers, Sellen naturally had to be there as well. But for some reason, she set out a bit late. On her way over, she suddenly sensed something was wrong.
It was the distinct feeling of being touched.
Because of Lloyd's earlier warnings, Sellen had taken extra precautions during her star research this time. While still pursuing the origin of the stars, she had, with the help of others, created a soul fragment. Using techniques left behind from when the Queen of the Full Moon was possessed by Seath, she sealed that fragment within a new Primal Glintstone.
Thus, while Sellen used her current body to assist the Queen of the Full Moon, her fragment continued to research the origin.
And to ensure the accuracy of that research, Sellen kept a link of shared sensation with her fragment. Even after it transformed into a sphere, she left that connection in place to record valuable data.
Now, on her way to the test site, through that link with the Mage Sphere, she sensed something very wrong.
Some idiot was touching her Sorcerer orb.
Why was she so sure it was that idiot?
Because the orb was kept in her room and warded with alarms. Without permission, even the Queen of the Full Moon would have triggered traps and countermeasures upon entering.
There were only two people who could walk in freely, touch the orb, and not set off the alarms.
One was herself. The other was that idiot.
Realizing something had gone terribly wrong, Sellen rushed back—but she was still a step too late.
First came the feeling of observation and touch.
Then came the spinning, like a top.
Dizzy and lightheaded, her face drained of color—then came the sensation of being groped again...
Thankfully, every sorcerer near the Grand Library had gone to witness the test. The area was deserted. Otherwise, if anyone had seen her stumbling and trembling on her way back, her career as a sorcerer might have ended on the spot.
Finally making it to her room, Sellen tried to stop Lloyd.
But her voice trembled, and the orb was still repeating "Apprentice..." over and over. Lloyd didn't hear her clearly at first, and his hand remained on the orb.
Then, noticing her distressed state, Lloyd—out of genuine concern—instinctively tightened his grip on the orb.
And then…
Sellen's legs gave way.
But she didn't hit the floor—she fell into an embrace instead.
After a moment to steady herself, she lifted her head and fixed a reproachful gaze on the clueless fool holding her, who had no idea what he'd just done.
She wanted to scold him. But seeing the genuine concern in his eyes, she hesitated, swallowed her words, and let out a long, weary sigh.
Sigh. Guess she was just unlucky to be saddled with such a fool of a disciple...
After giving herself time to recover, Sellen stood upright again. She glared at the utterly baffled Lloyd, reached out, and pinched his cheek—lightly, without force.
That would have to do.
She then briefly explained the situation to him, emphasizing in particular that he must never touch that orb again. Afterward, she spoke once more.
"You're just in time. The Queen is about to begin the first test. She was looking for you earlier but couldn't find a way to contact you. Now you can come along and watch..."
After finishing, Sellen smoothed away the traces left on her body, made sure she looked composed again, shot Lloyd a final glare, and led him toward the test site.
When they arrived and greeted the Queen of the Full Moon, Thops, Moongrum, and the others, Lloyd finally saw what the Queen had created.
And he froze in place.
Beneath a transparent crystal shell, countless metal structures were interlocked with precise craftsmanship. On nearly every surface, magical runes of different shapes had been engraved.
Tracing the runes back to their source revealed that they all spread outward from a central container.
At its core sat a replaceable Glintstone, faintly glowing as it supplied the magic needed to power the intricate patterns.
eeing Lloyd freeze in place, Sellen sighed softly beside him and began to explain.
"Simply put, this is a self-operating Glintstone-powered mechanism. By adjusting its structure, it can adapt to all kinds of needs..."
"I know you've seen plenty of dolls and those giant golems. They may look similar on the surface, but they are not the same thing."
Golem technology comes from excavations of ancient civilizations, and the knowledge we have is incomplete. Most of the existing constructs are essentially black boxes fueled by magical power. Whether the golems produced today are faithful to the originals is unclear, and modifying or optimizing them is nearly impossible.
But this is different.
Every part of this technology is based on research from the Raya Lucaria Academy. The records are complete, the system far more flexible, and both manufacturing difficulty and cost are much lower.
"The Carian school specializes in close-range sorceries. Their Magical Knights, in particular, gave them deep insight into the fusion of metal and magic..."
"Carian Retaliation can absorb sorceries and react to them. The Queen's Full Moon can dispel sorceries and fine-tune magical sensitivity—what you'd call magic resistance..."
"The Haima Conspectus has advanced methods for condensing and systematizing magical power. Night Sorcery can separate power flows and, under certain conditions, provide gravitational force. Add to that puppet techniques and other branches' approaches..."
"The Queen had wanted to attempt this before, but one critical problem remained unsolved: magical power itself is inherently dispersive."
"Without a sorcerer's control, it scatters wildly, impossible to keep stable. You could try to bind it with physical materials, and yes, it works—but the cost would be absurd..."
"Now, however, we've gained a missing piece of the puzzle."
"Force field sorcery."
"When Thops studied force fields, his focus was on repelling spells. But if you reverse the concept—couldn't the same method be used to bind and channel magical power instead?"
"With only minimal energy, you could organize magical streams into a structured system, no sorcerer guidance needed. Then, depending on the application, adjust the system to meet different demands..."
"Highly adaptable, easy to control, cheap to make. And as long as you load it with Glintstone as a power source, even someone who knows nothing about magic could use it..."
"Better still, because this system doesn't require sorcerer guidance, even a so-called 'Bluntstone' without any Glintstone aptitude could master it through pure theory..."
"And above all, the efficiency with which it uses magical power is terrifyingly high..."
A first magical revolution, huh?
While Lloyd listened, quietly grumbling to himself, the sorcerers nearby finished their preparations and activated the machine before them.
As Glintstone light flared, the sound of flowing energy filled the air.
Countless streams of magical power, bound and directed, coursed through the machine like glowing ribbons. One by one they lit up its parts, until the flow completed a circuit and formed a stable cycle.
With the magical engine successfully running, the sorcerers began attaching new components. Each one unlocked a different function.
A magic-powered machine gun. A charged mortar. A sustained laser...
Defensive magic barriers. A Glintstone projector. An engine-driven carriage...
And finally, they tried installing the engine inside a specially crafted doll.
Once activated, the doll opened its eyes. Its combat power far outstripped the puppet soldiers Lloyd had seen before—it was practically a humanoid Gundam.
Faster, stronger, deadly in both melee and ranged combat. And when struck, it could automatically raise a magical shield to block.
Most importantly, while this puppet certainly cost more than ordinary ones, its overall efficiency and performance completely outclassed them.
And there was still plenty of room for improvement.
"The situation in Radahn is still unstable, and he doesn't have many capable people around him. Once things settle down, I'd like you to send a few Gravity Sorcerers over there…"
"Rykard, on the other hand, has managed to restore ancient curses through sorcery—that's incredibly valuable knowledge. When the time is right, we should bring a couple of people over from there as well…"
"And then there's night sorcery. The academy currently lacks anyone proficient in it. If you come across someone, I hope you can bring them too..."
Incidentally, since Lloyd had once mentioned Miriel and the Church of Vows to the Queen of the Full Moon, she had him bring Miriel back as well. Miriel ended up contributing greatly to their research.
Faced with the Queen's requests, Lloyd naturally agreed without hesitation.
As for rewards... there were none.
Or rather, the mission itself was the reward.
When you looked at the key figures in this work, every one of them was either someone Lloyd had saved or one of his teachers.
And the Queen of the Full Moon? She had long since stopped caring about being a queen. After all, endless political wrangling could never compare to the joy of a sorcerer losing herself in research.
So, even if Lloyd himself hadn't noticed, this place had already become his territory, and this newborn faction was his faction.
Of course, that being said, some symbolic gesture of the Law still had to be offered. But this was hardly a reward—more like shifting something from one hand into the other.
[Acquired Talisman 'Magic Engine']
[Magic Engine]
[A creation forged through the combined knowledge of many schools of sorcery]
[Greatly reduces Magical Power consumption when casting sorceries]
[While increasing their strength]
[The moment the engine roars to life]
[Everything begins]
[Everything is already fated]
[This is the destined revolution of sorcery]
A powerful talisman—so strong it bordered on the abstract. Not only could it amplify spells and reduce their cost, its effects also stacked with other talismans.
But Lloyd's focus wasn't on that right now.
Staring at the roaring Magic Engine, then at the faces of the excited sorcerers surrounding it, he glanced down at the Ego Fragment in his inventory.
After a moment of silence, he came to a conclusion:
If things kept going this way, these sorcerers would definitely end up creating a living god for themselves.
But he didn't intend to stop them. He only mentioned the matter briefly to the Queen of the Full Moon, telling her to keep an eye on it.
As for the rest...
A rampaging super puppet?
That was just a ready-made new boss, wasn't it?
...
After watching the Magic Engine's test, Lloyd spent some time chatting with other acquaintances. When that was done, he accompanied Sellen back to her quarters.
Sellen had been endlessly busy of late.
She had been helping with the Queen's research, using her duplicates to study Origin sorcery, and occasionally working on safeguards for magical experimentation...
Because of this, even though Lloyd had visited her several times before, it had only been brief check-ins with little chance for real conversation. Earlier too, with the test ceremony about to begin, she hadn't had the time to catch up with him—just a few short words before dragging him along.
Now, though, with her immediate tasks finished, she finally had some free time. And naturally, she intended to properly tend to her foolish disciple.
First, she chatted with him about his recent experiences, getting a general sense of what he'd been through. Then she pulled out some treasures she'd acquired since returning to the academy.
A staff, a sorcerer's robe, a Glintstone Crown, and some scattered tools and trinkets...
After handing over the items, it was time to teach sorcery.
Facing Lloyd, Sellen held nothing back, sharing directly with him the results of her recent research.
[Acquired Sorcery 'Primeval Sphere']
[Origin Sorcerer's Sorcery, Sellen's magic]
[Envelops the body in Magical Power]
[While active, greatly boosts the strength of spells]
[However, user's weight increases substantially]
[Other attributes are also diminished]
[The origin Sellen glimpsed]
[Within that sphere's embrace]
[A newborn star is formed]
After sharing the spell, Sellen asked whether Lloyd needed anything else.
He thought for a moment, then pulled out a gray ring.
"Um... Teacher Sellen, what do you say we form a Covenant?"
Sellen froze for a moment, then realized her foolish disciple might actually mean it. After confirming, she let out a quiet sigh.
"You really..."
She reached out, gently stroking his face, then lowered her gaze and extended her index finger.
"If it were anyone else, I'd never accept. But what can I say? You're a fool, and you're my disciple..."
Before Lloyd could react, she slipped the ring onto her finger.
Then, on its own, the ring shifted to her ring finger, leaving Sellen momentarily stunned.
This is...
And then Lloyd's system prompt appeared.
[Acquired Covenant 'Primeval Star']
"Stupid disciple, why did this ring..."
She quickly tried to move it to another finger, to avoid any misunderstanding. But no matter how she tried, it wouldn't budge.
Strangely, when she realized this, she felt an unexpected sense of relief.
Her bare feet brushed together lightly.
Ah, forget it. What could she do? He was her foolish disciple after all...
He was the only one she truly cared about now. Let things be.
"If you ever run into trouble, don't forget—you still have me as your teacher."
"When you need help, come to me directly."
"If you need me, I can even put my research aside for a while."
Hearing her words, Lloyd thought for a moment, then suddenly pressed Sellen down onto the bed.
"...Foolish disciple?"
She was surprised, but she didn't resist.
Lloyd spoke plainly.
"I've collected several new Crucible Fragments lately. And since you've been busy all this time, you haven't had a checkup."
"Now that you're free, it's the perfect chance for me to run an examination and some optimizations. I'll collect some data as well..."
Hearing this, Sellen sighed.
Of course.
She brushed aside the hand pressing on her shoulder and undid her robe herself. Halfway through, she remembered something.
"Oh, and this time, try to be gentler. It's not like I'm refusing to cooperate—don't be so rough."
"Understood."
He lowered his hands.
The examination began.
[The bond of the Covenant grew stronger]
...
[Upto 20 chapters ahead for now]
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