IRM Chapter 87

The next day was a rest day. Ji Chi arrived early in the morning at the entrance of the engineer Academy, standing beneath a bronze statue named “Hand of God” while waiting for Linton. The bronze-yellow Hand of God gripped a sharp engraving tool, pointing high toward the sky.

Normally at this time, the entrance to the engineer Academy would be completely deserted. Those engineers who were shut-ins of the highest order preferred to stay in their dormitories or workshop rooms.

But today was different. News of the engineer competition had already been boiling throughout the academy, stirring up a group of homebodies full of energy and fully equipped, going out to search for suitable materials and teammates to compete with.

The academy entrance was bustling with people coming and going. Quite a crowd had also gathered beneath the eye-catching bronze statue, obscuring most of Ji Chi’s already inconspicuous figure.

Ji Chi lowered his eyes in thought for a moment, then took a gold coin from his pocket, positioned it between his thumb, and flicked it lightly upward.

“Ting——” The gold coin made a crisp sound as it struck his thumbnail. Its glossy surface reflected the sunlight, flipping and glittering through several rotations in midair before being swiftly caught by another hand.

“Phew… I searched for you for so long. There are way too many people today!” Linton had indeed searched for Ji Chi in the sea of people for a long time without finding him. It was only by relying on his sensitivity to gold coins that he spotted Ji Chi tossing the coin.

While complaining, Linton discreetly tucked the gold coin into his pocket.

Ji Chi looked at him wordlessly. “I have to say, with your talent, you shouldn’t be short of money at all. How exactly did you end up in this situation…”

Linton rubbed the gold coin through his pocket, and remembering something, gave a mocking laugh. “Yes, I’m very talented. I could make quite advanced engineer items from an early age. But so what… In that kind of place, who would I sell them to? A group of ordinary people who can’t even eat their fill—who would need expensive wands or arrows?”

“Even if I wanted to sell to the gentlemen, they would have to think highly of me first. More importantly, what gentlemen with the means to purchase engineer items would want the work of a dirty commoner?” Linton shook his head and sighed. “You don’t know—in the most remote mudhole, people would rather eat black bread meal after meal than value exceptional talent.”

Linton raised his eyes to calmly observe the worried faces of the engineers coming and going, saying softly, “That place is another world.”

Ji Chi didn’t tactlessly ask why he hadn’t escaped. From his observations, Linton must have accumulated quite a bit of wealth during his year in the royal capital, yet he remained penny-pinching as ever. The thin cloth boots on his feet had worn through with a hole and he still hadn’t replaced them.

Combined with his habit of hijacking magic messenger pigeons every few days, he must be sending the gold coins back to Yiste Town.

It was precisely because he saw this that Ji Chi turned a blind eye to Linton’s behavior, letting him scheme for his gold coins as much as he wanted.

Linton lifted his foot to leave, but seeing Ji Chi still rooted in place, asked in confusion, “Why aren’t we going? Didn’t you say you were going to take me to meet someone?”

Ji Chi responded, “Wait a moment. Someone else will be coming with us.”

As soon as the words fell, the surroundings suddenly became quiet, everyone stopping and staring in the same direction as if mesmerized.

Chloe, with that face beautiful enough to make people lose their senses, slowly walked out from within the academy.

She had learned many types of human walking gaits, but could never figure out which one to use in which situation.

Just like now—Chloe seemed to be recalling a certain coquettish tavern girl, and her walking pace involuntarily became graceful and alluring. Even the wide, stiff engineer’s robe couldn’t conceal the seductive charm that was proliferating.

Ji Chi watched as she kept a cold face while mechanically swaying her hips and twisting her waist like following a formula. He silently raised his hand to cover his face and let out a heavy sigh.

He was reminded of science students from his previous life who rigidly applied formulas—in their teachers’ eyes, they must have been just such disasters…

Perhaps his expression was too despairing. Chloe’s steps paused. After pondering in place for a moment, she straightened her back and strode toward the two of them with large steps.

Linton had still been intoxicated by the beauty’s boundless charm, but in the next second, the little beauty seamlessly transformed into a warrior saint, chin raised and chest thrust out aggressively, walking with a kind of tragic heroism that could move mountains and rivers.

Ji Chi no longer expected her to learn it properly. He turned and said weakly, “Let’s go. We’ll take a centaur carriage to Central Street.”

Ever since the engineer competition was confirmed to be held in Saint Trilley, the royal capital had seen quite a few more visitors. The centaur carriage business had visibly flourished—they could even cheerfully make change for a gold coin now.

“Fortunately, I’ve pulled quite a few customers recently, otherwise where would I find change for a gold coin!” The centaur took the gold coin and looked at it fondly for a couple of glances before counting out the change in silver and copper coins, then placing a handful of small coins into the palm already waiting before him.

Linton took the small coins and swallowed imperceptibly, then turned to offer them to Chloe. “Does Chloe need small change? It’s still very inconvenient without small change~”

Ji Chi couldn’t watch anymore and coldly swept him with a glance. “Am I the one with amnesia here? The person who used a gold coin to pay the carriage fare because they had no small change was me, wasn’t it?”

Chloe shook her head. “No need. Chloe has plenty of coins. Does Ji Chi not have small change? Chloe can share some with you.”

As she spoke, she was about to brutally dig into her stomach right there on the street, but was stopped by Ji Chi’s quick reflexes.

Ji Chi sighed deeply again, exhausted in body and mind from being tormented by these two. “Stop fooling around, ancestors. Let’s hurry and go. The appointed time is almost here, and there’s a powder keg waiting for me to face…”

Ji Chi had arranged to meet at the wand shop at eight in the morning. They were already over ten minutes late. Bard couldn’t help but run outside the shop entrance, craning his neck to look around in all directions.

He first spotted Chloe’s imperious walking posture. The wrinkles at the corners of his eyes smoothed out as he hurriedly turned to open the shop door a bit wider. He also carefully stepped on the corner of the mat by the entrance that had curled up, afraid the visitors might trip over it.

“Come in quickly, come in quickly! Why haven’t you come back these past two weeks? Are you settling in well at the academy? Are you feeling alright physically? Are your classmates all easy to get along with?” Bard pulled Chloe over and examined her thoroughly, muttering complaints all the while.

After more than a year of daily interaction, he had long since come to see Chloe as family. He had no children, and what few students he’d had were dead or scattered. He had already planned his final affairs—once he completed the goal he’d been persistently working toward, he would sell the life’s work he’d accumulated over the years, partially repay Ji Chi, and leave the rest to Chloe. Then he could quietly close his eyes for good.

Bard held up Chloe’s hands and observed them carefully, making sure the special materials in her body hadn’t been damaged.

As soon as Linton entered the wand shop, he couldn’t help but sweep his engineer’s inquisitive gaze over the exquisite wands displayed one by one in the cases. He admired these works that could be called art, completely absorbed, and before he knew it had reached the deepest part of the shop, where his toes accidentally kicked against a protruding hard object.

Linton looked down and discovered a thick tome had fallen on the ground, its corner wedged under a table leg.

He bent down and pulled the tome out with a bit of effort, saw clearly the words on the cover, and read aloud, “Hephaestus Teaches You How to Forge a Legendary Engineer Item… Hahaha, this was bought from a stall in the book district, right? Recently lots of people like to sell things under the banner of the God of Forging.”

Thinking it wasn’t an important item, he casually flipped through it. The pages inside were very clean, with messy handwritten ancient script clearly visible to the eye. The strokes of these characters were somehow familiar, but Linton couldn’t remember for a moment where he’d seen them before.

He shook his head and continued turning the pages, discovering quite a few magic notes tucked between them—palm-sized pieces of parchment crammed full of annotations.

“Huh? Someone actually studied this thing seriously? Could it actually be useful?” Linton couldn’t help but grow curious and directly flipped straight to the end—he had a habit when reading books of liking to check the conclusion first, which could save a lot of time.

And so, his eyes landed directly on Phaestus’s cheeky closing remarks.

“Hahahaha!” Linton burst out laughing while holding the tome. “I knew it! Anyone could tell it was a scam at a glance. Who would be stupid enough to study it thoroughly!”

As he laughed, he suddenly felt a chill at his back. Wiping away tears, he turned around.

Bard stared at him expressionlessly for a while, then turned to stare expressionlessly at Ji Chi. The powder keg was clearly about to explode.

Ji Chi hurriedly raised his hands. “I warned you early on to start reading from the last page… But you also took it to prop up a table leg, so let’s call it even, shall we?”

Linton knew Bard and Chloe had a close relationship and joined in scolding. “That’s right, that’s right! This kind of prank book that falsely uses the God of Forging’s name—you should tear it up and burn it! Don’t let this kind of blasphemous thing remain in the world!”

“It’s not false. It was written by the God of Forging.” Ji Chi, Chloe, and Bard—three people in the know—spoke simultaneously, turning to say this to him flatly.

Ji Chi turned back and continued appealing to Bard’s sympathy, even describing in tearful detail his experiences of being tricked by Phaestus several times.

Hearing that he wasn’t the only one who’d been fooled, Bard’s mood immediately balanced out somewhat. The frustration from studying it day and night for these past months only to cough up blood at the last page also dissipated quite a bit.

He looked at Linton. “This child is…”

Linton’s hands trembled as he held the tome, and with a thud he fell to his knees on the ground.

“…What exactly is wrong with this child?” Bard turned back to Ji Chi with dissatisfaction.

“You, you’re saying… this was written by the God of Forging???” Linton’s legs were so weak he couldn’t stand up. As a typical engineer, the God of Forging was naturally like their object of faith.

If it were just holding words personally written by his idol, Linton wouldn’t be so flustered. But the frightening thing was that he’d once been very familiar with this handwriting. He remembered now—if his childhood memories could still be trusted, his teacher was very likely… a god.

“Teacher Fitos…” Linton murmured like a mosquito’s buzz.

“What?” Bard seemed to have heard a familiar name and frowned as he inquired.

Ji Chi stepped forward and hauled up the collapsed Linton from the ground. “Alright, alright. Don’t lose your composure like this in front of a master.”

Linton supported himself on Ji Chi and struggled to stand, closed his eyes to calm his surging emotions, and tugged at the corners of his mouth. “So you were bringing me to meet the team leader master… Too bad. I’m already qualified to be a team leader myself and don’t want just any random person interfering with my ideas.”

Linton was still very proud when it came to his profession. In this life, he would only bow and scrape before two engineer masters—one was his enlightenment teacher, and the other was Master Borg, who had been living in seclusion for a long time.

“Hm? I thought you’d be quite happy?” Ji Chi looked down at him in confusion. “Didn’t you have quite a high opinion of Master Borg? Well, that’s him right there.”

Thud—Linton’s legs gave out and he dropped to his knees on the spot again. He looked up at Bard in panic, his lips trembling violently. “…Huh?”