In late autumn, the mist is rising.

It's not yet the Fog Moon, but Aldernan, the capital of Typhon, has always been a rainy and foggy city, and as the Frost Constellation moves towards the highest point of the Celestial Dome, the mist has begun to visit the "young" capital more and more frequently, especially after a cold autumn rain.

The autumn rain was always continuous, and even after the rain stopped, there were still sparse raindrops falling from the sky from time to time, and between the cold rain and the hazy mist, Aldernan's majestic black towers and rows of spires stood silently on both sides of the avenue, and the black-haired mage Mary, wrapped in her slightly old black mage robes, walked briskly through the street with her head bowed.

The breeze shield blocked the late autumn chill and the falling raindrops from the sky, but the scenery in the fog still brought a chill from the bottom of the heart, and Mary subconsciously tightened her robe, and then the anger of her mentor Daniel appeared in her mind—if the mentor saw her walking down the street with her neck hunched like this, I am afraid that she would be angry again.

She shook her head, brushing aside the gratuitous associations, then looked up ahead.

It was late autumn on the streets, and in the countryside, it was impossible to see anyone on the streets at this time, but in Mary's field of vision, there were more than one wave of figures walking in the mist.

The figures, dressed in a slightly thin old linen coat and with felt hats or dirty turbans, were mostly numb men, but also some children and women with sleepy faces, most of them moving in one direction, their steps heavy and their faces blank as strange as ghosts coming out of the mist in the early morning mist.

Mary knew that these were the workers who had gone to work in the factories — the textile mills, the printing houses, the rune foundries, and the Burning Rock Acid Factories — and the factories had been in large numbers since last winter, and these workers had been in large numbers since last winter.

The factories brought prosperity, kept the city running at an astonishing rate, and brought the petty nobles who had lost their power and wealth back to extravagant feasts and balls, and as an apprentice to the great magicians, and as a rising star in the Imperial Industrial Association, Mary had the privilege of attending the gatherings of the great men, and she knew how quickly the factory owners amassed wealth, which came from the astonishing productivity of the machines and the timely implementation of the market laws by His Majesty, and even more so from the walking dead…… Person.

But the factory owners didn't care.

Mary knew how her mentor was behind all this, and she had a rough idea of what was behind the miraculous factory boom, and as the one in the know, as the mentor's main assistant in carrying out the plan, the young mage tightened her robes again in the cold streets, and hurried past the numb "new citizens".

Across Pamel Street, past a few towers on the edge of the Mage Quarter, where the Mentor and several apprentices, including himself, lived: a sumptuous mansion in the upper affluent district.

The mansion, with its three-storey main body, two towers, two gardens, complete stables and servants' quarters, was given to the mentor by the president of the Royal Mage Society.

The doorkeeper was a familiar male apprentice, this young man with some freckles on his face had a slightly strange look on his face after seeing Mary, and before Mary could ask, the young apprentice took the initiative to say: "The mentor is in the 'cellar', and he will go there as soon as he asks you to come back." ”

Cellar......

Mary's heart suddenly tensed, but she quickly smoothed out all the changes in expression on her face and nodded slightly: "I know." ”

She walked through the courtyard of the mansion, into the main house, and down the stairs to the entrance to the cellar, where ordinary apprentices and servants had traditionally been forbidden to approach, and Mary saw two empty-eyed puppet servants waiting at the door.

The young mage swallowed, reminding herself of the kindness and kindness that had become more pronounced in recent times, and then pushed open the door to the cellar.

In this underground space, which has been transformed into a secret laboratory by the mentor, the whole room is lit up by a magic crystal lamp powered by a magic web, and Mary soon sees the black-robed old mage Daniel in the corner of the room, and behind Daniel, she sees a strangely shaped ...... Chair.

It was an obvious magical artifact, resting on a rune-carved pedestal, with a shimmer of light visible on the side of the chair, and strange metal dots on the inside of the chair's back, which itself seemed to be wrapped in some kind of magical leather—the moment Mary saw the chair, Mary was reminded of the sacrificial device depicted in some horror story.

Daniel raised his eyelids, and his yellow-brown eyes stared at the slightly helpless female apprentice standing at the door: "Come here, the master wants to see you." ”

Mary took a deep breath.

She didn't remember how she had moved to the chair, or how she had clumsily secured herself with a belt and buckle as her mentor had told her, but she had only one thought in her head: the day had finally come, and she was going to be sacrificed to that terrible "master" by her mentor......

She knew that there was a "master" behind the mentor, and of course she knew that the sudden appearance of the mentor's knowledge and terrible plans were arranged by the "master", and the fragments of those knowledge drove the development of the entire Typhon's magic technology, and the first step of that terrible plan changed the balance of power of the Aldenan nobles, in addition to algebra, solid geometry, calculus, rune logic...... That knowledge is awe-inspiring, but it also makes one aware of the nature of the "master" behind the guru.

It is said that only unspeakable exotic gods bestow "knowledge" in such a generous way, and this "knowledge" comes at a price.

"Sit well, and whatever you see for a while, open your heart and accept it, without any resistance—otherwise you will only suffer yourself." Daniel pressed Mary's slightly trembling shoulder hard, and said in a serious and cold tone.

Mary thought that she might be the "price".

The Guru continued, "You will arrive at a pure space where there is less talk and more to see, because the master's dependents are gathered there, and each of them is much wiser, much stronger, and much more noble than you. ”

Mary swallowed, finally wanting to say something to ease her nerves, so she spoke, "I...... I see the 'master'...... What to say? ”

Daniel's movements stopped, his tawny eyes staring at Mary, I don't know if it was an illusion, Mary actually felt a hint of praise in those eyes.

"Say your name first," the old mage said with a serious look on his face, activating the seat's rune trigger, "and then say - learning makes me happy. ”

"Ah......h

Mary let out a brief exclamation in confusion, but before she could ask, a sudden dizziness pulled her into the depths of a strange illusion of light and shadow.

When she opened her eyes again, she was already in front of a vast space with a high blue sky, endless water, and a large number of wonderful metal platforms.

Mary found herself no longer sitting on the strange "sacrificial chair", but in a comfortable high-backed chair, in front of a magnificent, wide round table with neatly arranged seats around which some unknown people sit, and on the other side of the round table a tall, burly man was quietly watching her.

Almost instantly, Mary realized that the man was the "master" that the mentor referred to.

Although it was a round table where it was impossible to distinguish between priorities and priorities, the man's momentum was clearly different from everyone else's.

Mary didn't expect the image of the "master" to be like this, she thought she would see a hideous and terrifying demon, or some more indescribable existence, but anyway, a human-like "master" at least made her feel a lot more relaxed, and just as she was relieved, the figure of the old mage Daniel also appeared in this space, and sat on the seat next to Mary.

Daniel glared at the slightly dazed apprentice: "What are you doing in a daze." ”

Mary woke up from a dream, and quickly got up with some hastiness, stumbling over what her mentor had told her to say, "I...... My name is Mary, I don't have a last name, and I have ...... And also...... Learning makes me happy! ”

The atmosphere seemed to be slightly awkward, but Mary was nervous and could not feel the change in the atmosphere at all, she saw that the figures sitting around the round table were all looking at her, and among them there was a spirit creature with a blue light all over her body, and the "spirit creature" looked at her with interest and made a buzzing voice: "This kid is very interesting. ”

A beautiful and elegant lady in a long red dress smiled at herself: "You're a little nervous – relax." ”

A young lady with big eyes, long brown hair, and an energetic young lady with a happy smile on her face: "Ah, you are the one who solved all sixteen equations I came up with?!" You're amazing! My name is Rebecca - did you really untie it yourself? ”

Mary was a little sluggish for a moment, and she suddenly felt ...... At the moment, things seem to be unfolding a little differently than I imagined.

Gawain looked at the black-haired girl who was visiting the Origin Space for the first time with a slightly strange expression, and he could see the other party's nervous and even frightened look at the beginning, which made him cry and laugh a little: "Mary, is it?" Relax and welcome to the Origin Lab. ”

"Origin Labs?" Mary was stunned for a moment, and was about to ask what the Origin Lab was, but then she remembered that the mentor seemed to have mentioned this name when she adjusted her chair before—just when she was most nervous, so she swallowed back her question and nodded busily, "Okay, okay!" I...... I'm honored to ...... too."

Daniel's face turned ugly: "Shame." ”

Mary quickly shrunk her neck: "I'm sorry, mentor. ”

"It's okay, this kid is very talented, she's talented enough to offset her little frustration," Gawain said, "and I'm curious how you described this webinar to this kid, she looks a little nervous and abnormal." ”

"All I said you wanted to see her," Daniel said with a blank look, "Origin Labs is extremely secret, and I told her almost nothing before entering the network. ”

“…… Cautious, but reasonable. ”

Thinking of Daniel's real-world style of painting and the psychological shadow he had caused his apprentices, Gawain could guess what was going on with the girl named Mary.

Forget it, let them solve their own problems.

Gawain shook his head slightly in his heart, and then put Mary, a "newcomer", aside for the time being, and started the main topic of this online meeting.

"First of all, I'll bring some materials, Jenny, Carmel, Rebecca, activate your respective printouts, and print them out in the real world."

As he spoke, Gawain activated the memory transformation function of the Origin Laboratory, and in the mid-air above the round table, a large number of dazzling runes and lines were projected almost instantly, and split into one concise and clear plane dismantling diagram after another.

"This is the technical data of the elves, this part is their cooling rune array, this part is a schematic diagram of the cooling system based on oil coolant and using an immersion heat exchanger, this is their anti-gravity magic circle - it should not be complete, but it can be referenced. There's also the way they cast their shields and the idea of stacking multiple layers of runes......"

"Wow!!" Rebecca's eyes widened as she looked at the dismantling diagram of those complex rune arrays and device structures, and couldn't help but let out an exaggerated exclamation, "Ancestor, you have such a strong memory...... You're a thief better than amber!! ”

"Hetty, remember to play when you get offline."

"Yes, Ancestor."