IRM Chapter 92

Bard stood before the long table. Though he was clearly in the position of being interrogated, he remained neither servile nor overbearing, facing the elderly men before him with calm confidence.

These were all familiar faces. During the long years prior, they had also met at gatherings of top-tier engineers, exchanging smiles and nods of greeting.

The elders soon wavered. Dirty dealings among engineers were not uncommon, and they now only hoped that Bard was indeed the party being framed, rather than having also fallen into corruption.

They carefully examined the design blueprint again. Gradually, five pairs of eyes widened brilliantly.

“This is—” The dwarven elder couldn’t help but climb onto his chair, pressing his entire head above the design blueprint.

An elder beside him shoved his head aside, mouth gaping open in astonishment. “This can be done like this? This can actually be done like this! How was this achieved…”

“This isn’t magic… it’s pure machinery! Machinery can actually achieve this level!”

“This is a miracle that can change the era…”

The Demon Sword Continent had relied on magic for too long—so long that it couldn’t give birth to the seeds of science, and so long that it created an enormous chasm between professions and ordinary people.

Bard quietly waited for them to calm their emotions, himself also somewhat lost in thought—

Honestly speaking, from the moment he decided to participate in the competition, his purpose had been very clear: seize the championship, win the highest prize, complete the set. Everything else was beneath his notice.

But ever since the new design blueprint was born, he suddenly remembered a dream from his youth.

Back then, he wasn’t alone. He had boundless energy and inspiration. He dreamed that one day, all life could be respected, that even those doing the dirtiest and most exhausting work in mine shafts could receive goodwill from others.

Bard squinted and smiled, his eyes flashing with youthful high spirits. “Yes, we will change this era.”

Bard lingered at the submission area for quite a while. Many competitors on site looked over with ambiguous expressions, whispering to each other from time to time, as if guessing what was happening inside the room.

William was obviously also constantly watching. His mood was very complicated at the moment—on one hand, he was certain Ji Chi couldn’t turn things around this time, but on the other hand, he vaguely felt uneasy, always feeling that things had escaped his control again.

William was deep in thought when he saw Bard emerge, and his heart suddenly sank.

Bard’s expression was very calm. Looking closely, there might even be a bit of relaxation and happiness. He walked briskly to the three youths and left the venue chatting and laughing with them.

William’s face was gloomy. He pursed his lips and watched their backs for a long time, staying on the platform until the competitors dispersed.

After the last team of competitors submitted their blueprints, William, surrounded by guards, directly barged into the room where the elders were.

Rooms expanded using sealing magic could block sight and sound, but couldn’t stop people from barging in forcibly.

The elders had reviewed blueprints all morning. They weren’t in a hurry to leave, but were each holding a cup of hot tea, enthusiastically discussing.

Seeing William suddenly barge in, they were startled and looked at William with some displeasure.

However, considering his identity as the First Prince of the Saint Trilley Empire, the elders didn’t scold him aloud, merely suppressing their unhappiness and asking, “Your Highness the First Prince, is there something you need?”

William’s gaze circled around the deerskin briefcase storing design blueprints behind them, and he directly demanded, “I want to see Ji Chi’s team’s design blueprint.”

The elders had been too focused on looking at design blueprints and hadn’t noticed Ji Chi’s name. Assuming he was some minor engineer who had offended the First Prince, they didn’t take it to heart—after all, it was just looking, might as well sell the royal family another favor.

They waved for several engineer apprentices waiting at the door to come in and search through the box for the design blueprint.

During the wait, they treated the First Prince as if he were air, constantly praising Bard’s team.

“Looking at how happy Bard is, he must have taken on several excellent students again!”

“Isn’t that right? He’s been in seclusion for many years, hasn’t he? It’s rare to see him participate in this kind of competition… Ah, if I’d known, I would have come participate too. This year looks very interesting!”

“Yes, the ideas of today’s children are truly rich. Did you all understand that blueprint? There’s never been such a design among engineers!”

“Ah… now you’ve made me want to look carefully again. Hey Toby, find Master Borg’s blueprint too!”

The apprentice named Toby stood there holding a blueprint in a daze. He looked back and forth between the elder and the First Prince, asking blankly, “They’re both this blueprint. Who should I give it to first?”

The room fell deathly silent.

The elders reacted in an instant. They turned their heads to look at William. Recalling the suspected duplicate design blueprints they had seen much earlier, they immediately understood everything.

“I was wondering—a group of mere intermediate engineers, where would they get the ability to design such beautiful machinery? So the First Prince was giving guidance from behind…” One of the elders sneered without courtesy.

The dwarven elder couldn’t stand it. He had a short fuse with everyone. He snatched the design blueprint from the apprentice’s hands, pressed it back into the box and locked it, climbed onto the table and began cursing. “Bah! I hate dirty, despicable things the most. Are you even worthy of being an engineer?! And you’re even a First Prince! The rats in our Underground City are much cleaner than you!”

“Get out! Get out! If I see you up to no good again, even if I never come to Saint Trilley for the rest of my life, I’ll make you regret it!” The dwarven elder, as if throwing grenades, hurled all the teacups and teapots from the long table at William’s head.

William tried to explain several times but was driven back by the projectiles. He didn’t dare fight back or force them, and could only glare unwillingly at the briefcase before fleeing in frustration with his head and face protected.

Soon only five silent elders remained in the chaotic room, along with one engineer apprentice who still didn’t understand the situation and stood there like a dazed goose.

The dwarven elder caught his breath and sat cross-legged directly on the long table. He held the deerskin box and sat in a daze for a long time, sighing softly. “When people get old, they really do prefer things to be a bit cleaner.”

Another elder also lost the desire to continue chatting. He leaned against the not-too-soft chair back, tilting his head back and rubbing his neck. “I don’t have the energy to change the era, but helping to guard a miracle—that’s something I can still help with.”

The elders looked at each other and all smiled quietly.

After William emerged covered in ceramic shards, his expression never relaxed. He raised his hand to brush off the sharp ceramic pieces stuck in the tassels on his chest, accidentally cutting his palm. Fine threads of blood seeped out along the narrow wound.

The attendant beside him hurriedly searched for a potion for William to drink, but William didn’t take it. He merely gazed deeply at the patch of crimson in his palm.

After a long while, he raised his head and asked softly, “How many of the judges for the second selection are of noble birth?”

This attendant had followed the First Prince for a long time and handled many matters personally. He answered without hesitation, “Almost all of them, Your Highness.”

William nodded. “Good. You don’t need to say much, just have someone remind them of the good deeds the Gladiolus Guild has done, and also… Ji Chi’s suspicions from that night.”

“Yes, Your Highness.” The attendant bowed and withdrew.

Three days passed. Saint Trilley Central Arena, the second selection.

“Chloe, are you really okay? Did you really learn it? Can you really do it?” Linton was very nervous. Just thinking about the gold coins they could win made him feel suffocated, and he pestered Chloe non-stop.

For the first time, Chloe experienced the emotion of annoyance. She discovered this new emotion wasn’t fresh at all. Instead, she wanted to shoot an arrow through this fly-like teammate beside her. According to her calculations, if Ji Chi didn’t stop her, she had a 99.99% probability of permanently solving this nuisance.

But there was no need to calculate—Ji Chi had a 99.99% probability of disagreeing.

The probability of success was really too slim. Chloe couldn’t muster any spirit and stood quietly to the side, even forgetting to maintain her simulated breathing, like actual machinery.

“Ahhh! Chloe’s been scared to death!” Linton covered his face and shrieked!

“Quiet! If you keep making noise, we’ll all be annoyed to death by you!” Bard scolded from the side. Although he didn’t reach Linton’s waist in height, his aura was eight feet tall, immediately suppressing Linton into obedient submission like a cub.

Ji Chi rubbed the magic pouch in his hand. Inside were various precious materials. They would rely on these to forge the set from the design blueprint.

Worth mentioning was that they had only managed to buy enough crystal wire yesterday. This material was rarely used by engineers. The price wasn’t high, and the quantity wasn’t abundant either. They had searched all the major shops in the royal capital without finding much. But in their design blueprint, it served the function of “electrical wire” and could be called the lifeline of the set.

Fortunately, Bard contacted some master engineers for help, and only then did they gather a full bundle of crystal wire.

Because of this, they also didn’t have time or materials for training. The final step of installing the energy chambers and laying the crystal wire could only rely on Chloe’s improvisation.

Ji Chi and Bard weren’t very anxious, because they understood Chloe’s terrifyingly precise operational accuracy—that was a realm no race could reach. If even Chloe couldn’t complete it, then they had no need to waste time on the competition.

But Linton didn’t know this. He was in an extremely tense state, his little mouth babbling non-stop.

Ji Chi glanced at him. “The championship reward divided four ways is only four or five thousand gold coins… Why are you so nervous?”

Ji Chi was genuinely puzzled. He clearly remembered that before the entrance test that would determine his entire life, this guy still had the mood to go out and earn extra money. How could he be this anxious at this competition?

Linton bounced his leg, staring intensely at the highest victory platform in the arena, muttering, “You don’t understand, you don’t understand…”

“Forget it, just don’t let your hands shake during forging.” Ji Chi couldn’t understand him and gave an additional reminder.

The bell in the arena rang. Over a hundred teams successively came to the center of the venue. The seats circling the arena suddenly erupted with cheers that shook the heavens. Many people of different professions, identities, and races watched the arena with high enthusiasm. They were all anticipating, guessing, and betting, while witnessing the birth of machinery that would shake the continent.

Several engineers responsible for the competition wore magic monocles, carefully checking the materials in Ji Chi’s magic pouch. After confirming there were no problems, they bowed and invited them to enter. “We wish you all the best.”

As soon as Bard’s team appeared on the arena platform, the discussion in the seats grew much louder. Obviously, the fanatical gamblers, in order to dig up treasures, had investigated their backgrounds thoroughly, converting this into winning probabilities.

Indeed, Bard’s experience was quite brilliant, but the remaining three… the gamblers unceremoniously called them “make-weights.”

Linton was slightly better. Master Nigel’s reputation still had some heat in Saint Trilley. However, his rise to fame had been too brief. His forging techniques not being seasoned enough was a fatal flaw.

As for Chloe, this little girl was pretty, yes, but supposedly had no talent. Her forging method mainly relied on judgment and memory—the most unpromising forging method. Aside from some superficial people who judged by appearance alone, not many gamblers were optimistic about her.

As for Ji Chi… even veteran gamblers who specialized in dark horse candidates didn’t know how to evaluate this youth.

A mage famous at the Magic Academy for making potions in the street—he sounded like someone only those whose brains had been kicked by orcs would bet on.

Several gamblers had just finished complaining when piles upon piles of gold coins came flying at them. It was several clean-looking young men and women, though their brains must definitely have been kicked by orcs.

“I’m betting on Ji Chi’s team.” The young master clapped his hands. Behind him, the old butler smiled and walked to the betting table, taking out one of the rarest top-grade magic pouches. His white-gloved fingers elegantly pulled open the pouch opening, and over ten thousand gleaming gold coins poured out like a waterfall, directly filling the enormous betting table.

The young master smiled indifferently. “This is only the second selection, so let’s still be cautious.”

The gamblers: “…”