Entering the Silvermoon City, Leylin once again arrived at Grand Magister Belo'vir's residence.
Quickly ascending the stairs, Leylin heard the sounds of a stiff, mechanical creature.
"A living being detected approaching, alert."
This wasn't surprising; in a magician's residence, one must learn to adapt to the unnatural and unexpected. Arriving at Grand Magister Belo'vir's room, filled with magical books and experimental equipment, he found himself facing a metal object.
A construct? Leylin's immediately thought.
Grand Magister Belo'vir waved, signaling that Leylin could sit down and wait. His work would be completed soon.
Standing in the corner, the construct's crystal eyes shone with a purple light. The lavender glow pulsed at a constant rhythm, as if following a specific pattern.
In Grand Magister Belo'vir's hands, several purple magic circles rose. Around the edges of the circles floated various magical characters, mostly in Elvish, with some in the common human language.
In the hands of Grand Magister Belo'vir, these unique magic circles circulated arcane energy. Leylin couldn't tell whether they were storing or releasing energy.
In short, at the end, the grand magister embedded dozens of magic circles into the arcane construct. As if giving life to a living being, the construct quietly relished the external boon.
"Pretty much on time," Grand Magister Belo'vir said, removing the magic circles from his hand. He then pulled a white handkerchief from the shirt beneath his mage robes, wiped the sweat from his palms, and looked at Leylin.
"Well, I am still adapting to the local practices. In the elven kingdom, you must adapt to the sense of time here." Leylin said casually.
The grand magister nodded and continued, "Have you ever thought about pursuing other pursuits besides studying magic?"
"You could give it a try, if you have enough free time."
"Alchemy, blacksmithing, arcane constructs, or natural sciences?"
"I'm not familiar with these subjects, but I'd like to study something that would complement my magic." Leylin replied.
Grand Magister Belo'vir turned and gazed at the bookshelf that reached the ceiling. With a sweep of his left hand, his gaze caressed the top shelf.
Two sets of heavy volumes landed before Leylin.
"Exactly as you intended, the first set is about arcane constructs, the second about natural science," the grand magister said.
Leylin unsealed the entire set and opened the first. Natural science.
Grand Magister Belo'vir didn't wait for Leylin to read the book before him, so he outlined its contents for him.
"Natural science, as the name suggests, is the field of natural magic. To be precise, the power of nature doesn't belong to magical energy; it belongs in a different category. However, this doesn't mean that magic and natural energy can't interoperate. A mage can accelerate the growth of a plant and utilize the power of nature in a unique way."
Listening to Grand Magister Belo'vir's overview, Leylin immediately thought, "Isn't this something a druid should study?
"Grand Magister, is this about using magical power to control the forces of nature?" Leylin pondered, following Grand Magister Belo'vir's theory.
Belo'vir blinked and said, "That's understandable."
"Then why can't we work with the forces of nature? I believe that the power of nature, like magical energy, permeates every corner of our world. In fact, it's even more powerful than magic." Leylin's words were always so surprising.
This kid always had such a tricky perspective.
Belo'vir smiled, "You're right, but we're mages. All we can do is conjure the elements and but can't force the power of nature. Your idea is good, but we mages can't accomplish it." The highborne of the the ancient kaldorei civilization could achieve such an idea, but that was ten thousand or even several thousand years ago.
Unable to continue further, he simply gave up. Leylin's eyes fell on the second set of books.
"Is this the knowledge required for magical constructs?" Leylin's tone made it clear that he wanted to learn this subject.
"Indeed, the intelligent construct experiment I just conducted was an innovation based on this book. It's shameful to say that a hundred years have passed, and there's still no progress on this experiment." Grand Magister Belo'vir smiled awkwardly.
Leylin, confused by the grand magister's words, carefully examined the construct standing in the corner beside the lab table. He said, "Let's study this specialty. I believe it's well suited to me."
Grand Magister Belo'vir was no exception. He told Leylin honestly, "Okay, but I don't have many materials. You'll have to gather them yourself."
Years of construct experiments had stretched the Grand Magister to the limit. If the Grand Magister's stipend didn't arrive this month, he'd be eating at Vandellor's house again.
Leylin didn't mind the materials issue. After years of managing the orchard, combined with his family's savings, he still had a healthy balance.
"As my student, I owe you a little gift on this first meeting." Grand Magister Belo'vir patted the magic bag at his waist and carefully removed a golden magic bag.
He then took Leylin's right hand and swished his index finger across his palm.
After a tickling sensation, a lavender magic circle imprinted itself on Leylin's palm, completing the binding of the magic item.
"Thank you, Teacher." Leylin said with a grateful bow.
Belo'vir was not shy at all. He shook his head and said, "You are my student. This is only natural. From now on, if you have any questions about magic, you can always come to me."
"Yes, I understand. But Teacher, can you tell me what this intelligent construct you just mentioned is?" Ever since Leylin entered the room, his eyes had been drawn to the construct in the corner.
"It's a simple research project. Using sophisticated magic arrays, we can imbue this mechanical construct with the thinking of an intelligent creature." As Belo'vir spoke of this, a strange glint shone in his eyes. It was clear that he was incredibly confident in this project.
Inconceivable! This was something that countless cutting-edge technologies in his previous life hadn't been able to produce. At least, not in his own time.
"Teacher, are you sure this will work? This is a construct, made entirely of iron," Leylin said in disbelief.
"I'll definitely be able to do it. Now I'm alone, but in the future, I believe you, my most outstanding student, will help me!" Grand Magister Belo'vir said confidently.
The most outstanding student? Leylin blushed, clearly thrilled by the praise.
In fact, the reason Grand Magister Belo'vir said this was because he knew this new student of his was the most intelligent, and the most outstanding. He felt his magical energy the first time they met and was shocked by how pure it was.
It's a bit like the energy produced by the sunwell or who knows if it might be even greater than the sunwell's power.