587 Redemption Part 1 (2/2)
”Where is Mr. Gaius?” Charles snuffed out the cigarette and asked suddenly, ”I need to look for him for certain matters.”
Wolf Flute thought for a moment and said, ”He should be very busy right now.”
”I know.” Charles turned back and gazed at the vast battlefield covered in snow. ”Titles like the Holy Son are totally meaningless for this place. I don't want to merely be a mascot, Wolf Flute.”
”Gaius will never agree to let you fight,” Wolf Flute answered straightforwardly. ”You are a symbol, Charles, you're the proof that miracles exist, you must hold yourself aloft.
”If you get involved in the war, other countries will have a reason to mobilize their scepter musicians and catastrophe-level weapons, and maybe even saints... Gaius will never allow you to roll up your sleeves and join in out of impulse. ” As he said so, he pointed towards the far end of the battlefield. At the end of the horizon, in the camps in the distance, a huge aether wave rose into the sky from afar, declaring its own existence.
”See? We can't allow ourselves to fall into a passive position,” Wolf Flute said. ”Whoever succumbs to the temptation first loses.”
”Rest assured, I won't be the one.” Charles laughed self-mockingly and lowered his head, looking at the cold face in the blood and snow. He murmured softly, ”I just feel like I should help out a little bit...even if it's just a little bit.”
…
It was three hours later in the White Mountain Research Institute. No semblance of heat could be found in the icy room, and it was so cold that it made one's lungs convulse. Even the house itself had just been built and was only good for blocking out the wind with its four walls. The fireplace was burning in the corner of the room but failed to provide any warmth.
Old men sat by the table, wrapped in thick coats, mugs of hot water in their hands, but they were all still shivering from the cold.
No one spoke in the silence.
They quietly looked at the drawings on the table with full concentration, not letting any loopholes or errors slip past them.
Footsteps sounded from a distance. A young researcher opened the door and ran in, holding a bulge of mass in his arms. Despite the snowy weather, he was sweating profusely from running. The drops of sweat on his face turned into ice and were almost frozen stiff.
”We only have so many left in storage, I have taken all of them here.” He put the gray iron-like ingots he was holding on the table. The iron-like ingots which were about one thumb thick fell onto the table and collided with each other, producing crisp, clear sounds.
Solder. All the ingots were made of solder.
The old men examined the solder on the table, then looked at each other with uncertain expressions, and started discussing.
”Is it really feasible?”
”No one has gone down this train of thought before, and the principle behind is fairly simple, I don't see any major problems with it.”
”Similar designs have been carried out before, but they had their fair share of flaws. Plus, we lack a better alloy formula.”
”The Sacred City has imposed a technical blockade on us. If we are to conduct the necessary research on our own, it will take another four years.”
”The idea is very good, but we don't have so much time.”
”Let's make a batch of prototypes based on this design first. Maksim, you have more manpower in your department, how long will it take?”
”The carpenter apprentices and blacksmith apprentices who have just been recruited have to undergo training before they can be of use to us. If you want to make prototypes of acceptable standards, it will take about three months.”
Behind the table, Charles listened to their opinions quietly. After a long time, he slowly shook his head. ”It won't take so long. If you all are alright with the design, it can be done now.”
”Now?” one of the old men asked.
”Yep, now.” Charles nodded and spread his palms.
A crisp sound rang out. As if an earthquake suddenly came, the sound of the tables and chairs shaking rang out, and the glass on the wall suddenly fractured, revealing innumerable cracks, and fell apart. The old men looked at each other in confusion and couldn't help but want to back away.
Bang! A chair collapsed suddenly, and the person sitting on it fell and tumbled. He raised his head in shock, only to see iron nails breaking free from their bonds and flying towards Charles' palm.
The wind bellowed. A fog-like cloud of gray dust gushed in from the window and gathered around Charles. One could vaguely see the innumerable coarse grains of metal in it.
The cold wind whistling and poured into the room from the window, but no hint of coldness could be felt anymore. It was because born in the palm was a high temperature much hotter than lava. It was like a furnace.
Countless alchemy arrays were born and destroyed in an instant. As they were gathered and moved around by the five fingers, an abstract furnace was formed. A dazzling flame of pure white was brewing up in it, and the temperature high enough to vaporize the entire room in an instant was restrained within the grasp of the hand.
The mere trace of leaked heat was enough to make the room so hot that it was suffocating. It made the old men's beards curl and they retreated into the corners.
When steel fell into the furnace, it became a liquid, and the impurities evaporated instantaneously. Then, countless fine particles of dust flowed into the furnace. The dust consisted of powder-form minerals contained in the depths layers of the frozen soil. An invisible hand had extracted them from the soil and add them to the furnace to be smelted in the terrifying temperature.
Heating, hammering, purification, formation, reprocessing, casting, quenching… In a flash, the lengthy process had been completed in one-shot.
In Charles' hand, dozens of parts had been forged, and the fire had been extinguished. The parts collided and scraped against each other, then pieced together, assembled, and finally formed the prototype of his creation.
It was an odd iron tube that came with a grip.
”It's done.” Charles placed it on the table. ”As long as no errors have been made, we can test it now.”