IRM Chapter 91

In Bard’s view, their ability to complete the previous design and successfully verify its feasibility was already an unprecedented feat in the engineer profession—it could even be called a miracle blessed by the God of Forging.

Strictly speaking, the conversion of magic didn’t fall within an engineer’s scope; it should be a mage’s concern. Fortunately, they had Ji Chi on their team. Although this fellow had no achievements whatsoever in his actual profession as a mage, it didn’t stop him from being a Bug in his own right.

His distinctive magic power provided Bard with new ideas. With Ji Chi’s cooperation, Bard discovered the key to conversion between elements, and this key could be entirely guided by equipment.

After the design was completed, Bard spent a long period of time feeling as if he were in a dream. He knew this was just a coincidence—he would never have a second chance of good fortune to create such a magnificent piece of equipment.

So, holding the version 2.0 design, Bard stared at Ji Chi with half-belief and asked gravely, “Do you know what this design means?”

Ji Chi nodded. “The previous design could allow all mages to become all-elemental magic warriors. Then this time, Linton’s design can allow people of all professions to become all-elemental magic warriors—including ordinary people.”

Linton clenched his back teeth tightly, his jaw forming a sharp, tense line. His panic and guilt had somehow faded away, transforming into deep anticipation—anticipation of being able to make up for his mistake, and even more so, anticipation of truly being able to create this kind of equipment.

Linton’s design wasn’t perfect. He had been too tired yesterday and had only added a slot to the original conversion core device. A magic crystal could be placed in the slot to continuously provide magic power to the device.

With this device, even ordinary people without a trace of magic power could cast spells through it.

So Bard said that while the idea was excellent, there was still one major difficulty in implementing it: how to apply the extracted magic power to the precision conversion device.

If they had started researching a month ago, they might have had a chance at a breakthrough, but they really didn’t have much time left.

Tomorrow they had to submit their design. All designs would be reviewed within three days, and by the fifth day, they would need to bring all their materials to the central arena, and under everyone’s watchful eyes, forge the equipment from the blueprint without the slightest error.

Was this even possible…

A trace of desolation crossed Bard’s and Linton’s hearts.

“Excuse me, there’s a discarded draft paper under your foot,” Chloe reminded Linton emotionlessly.

“Oh, sorry.” Linton reflexively shifted to the side, making room for Chloe to clean.

After moving aside, he looked somewhat sadly at the completely calm Chloe. “Aren’t you angry at all? Or don’t you care…”

Without raising her head, Chloe continued sweeping with her broom—with Linton here, she couldn’t change form, so her cleaning efficiency was much lower. “Chloe’s cleaning task is not yet complete. Remaining commands will be executed later.”

Chloe couldn’t change certain characteristics inherent to equipment—for instance, she felt uncomfortable if she didn’t clean for a day, and her cleaning routes these past days had been fixed.

As long as she was programmed or instilled with a concept, she would always learn it quickly and then apply it perfectly.

Ji Chi lowered his eyes and thought for a moment, then asked with a smile, “Chloe, if I only know the basic principles of connection devices, how long would it take you to calculate it and apply it to this design?”

Chloe recalled the hundreds and thousands of densely packed interfaces on the conversion device. “A few minutes.”

Linton’s eyes lit up. “Ji Chi, you have an idea? Then tell her quickly!”

Chloe raised her head and swept him with a dissatisfied glance, repeating, “Chloe’s cleaning task is not yet complete. Remaining commands will be executed later.”

“Aiya! The cleaning task isn’t important right now… Fine, I’ll help you!” Linton was so anxious that blisters were about to form at the corners of his mouth. He quickly began helping her tidy up the room, but there was hardly any clutter in the room. Only Chloe, like someone with OCD, earnestly wielded her broom, scrubbing back and forth across the spotlessly clean floor.

Bard seemed to have grown accustomed to this quirk of Chloe’s. He sighed and sat limply by the low table, rubbing his chest. This morning had been too stimulating for the old man…

Linton had absolutely no way to deal with the iron-hearted Chloe. Anxiously pacing circles around her, he could only helplessly wait for her to finish cleaning along her fixed route.

Finally, Chloe put down her broom and patted her hands, then sat primly beside Ji Chi, calmly watching him.

Taking advantage of that time, Ji Chi organized the knowledge from another world in his mind. He took a fresh sheet of papyrus and said softly, “Let me explain to you the concept of circuits…”

The next day, at the Central Arena.

Design submission opened at eight o’clock in the morning, and all contestants arrived early. They carefully protected the designs in their arms, vigilantly surveying everything around them, tensing up completely at the slightest disturbance.

No one would mock them for being so nervous, because this was a world where competition came first, rivalry second, and striving for the top third. To plunder resources in such an environment required not only strength and luck, but vigilance and tactics were equally crucial.

The hundreds of teams gathered in the Central Arena encompassed all the most elite engineers across the entire continent. Advanced engineers, normally as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns, were the most unremarkable presence on these grounds.

When Ji Chi’s group arrived at the arena, they only attracted a few sparse discussions.

These discussions all centered on Bard. He wore formal attire, and on the collar of his dark black coat, he had specially pinned a gleaming Saint Engineer badge.

“Wow, another Saint Engineer… Do we even have a chance? How many Saint Engineers have come?”

“What are you thinking? We’re just here to fill out the bottom! Who gave you the courage to compete with Saint Engineers? The God of Forging?”

“Sigh, I’m getting ahead of myself. I actually feel that teams with only one Saint Engineer seem shabby. Did you see the First Prince’s team?”

“Ah, there were too many guards around the First Prince, I couldn’t see. What about it?”

“Three! A full three Saint Engineers! If there are no surprises, this championship belongs to the First Prince…”

Bard vaguely heard a few sentences, his expression darkening as he looked up ahead.

William’s team wasn’t crowded together with the other contestants. Surrounded by a circle of guards, they stood leisurely on the competition platform watching, having obviously submitted their design long ago.

No one objected to this, as it was an insignificant special privilege belonging to the host nation’s royal family.

William’s gaze was also searching through the crowd below. He quickly locked eyes with Bard through a gap between two guards.

He reached out to push aside those two guards, revealed a provocative smile toward Bard, and ground his toe against the ground, his mocking implication rich and clear.

Just as Bard was about to explode with anger again, a slightly cool hand pressed on his shoulder. Ji Chi raised his eyes and met William’s gaze from afar.

William had been quite wary of Ji Chi since the banquet. His smile froze, and with his neck stiff, he stared straight at Ji Chi, the muscles around his eye sockets trembling slightly as he struggled to control himself from disgracefully looking away.

Ji Chi nodded at him with a kind smile and snapped his fingers. A red light flashed.

William couldn’t help but shrink his neck sharply, looking around in panic. Only after discovering there was no scorching fireball as he’d anticipated did he gently lower his raised guard.

“Your Highness, you dropped your magic pouch.” The guard captain seemed to see a black shadow flash at the corner of his eye. Looking back, he only saw the exquisite magic pouch that had fallen to the ground, its engraved golden royal crest declaring its owner’s identity.

He stepped forward to pick up the magic pouch and respectfully presented it to William with both hands.

William frowned and felt his empty waist, hesitantly accepting it. He kept part of his attention alert and opened the magic pouch to check inside.

Suddenly, William’s eyes widened in shock—all his gold coins were gone!

William jerked his head toward Ji Chi’s direction.

Ji Chi was still standing obediently among the contestants, except now there was a faint black figure beside him.

That figure bowed to him, handed Ji Chi a bundle glowing with golden light, then transformed into a bloody light and disappeared into his right palm.

A summoner’s skill… Waves of cold swept down William’s spine. He didn’t know how Ji Chi’s summon had evaded the guards’ detection, but he understood very clearly that if Ji Chi wanted to, he could easily and without a trace kill him…

Ji Chi noticed William’s frightened gaze and silently mouthed a sentence—

“Thank you for your patronage.”

Linton was standing on his tiptoes, anxiously looking ahead through the crowd when someone suddenly poked his shoulder. He turned around somewhat irritably.

Seeing it was Ji Chi, he softened his expression. “What’s wrong?”

Ji Chi handed him a heavy cloth bundle. “Here, your share.”

Linton froze, seeming to catch a scent that made his spirit tremble. He took the bundle, glanced inside, suddenly clenched it tight, and looked at Ji Chi in surprise. “What’s this for! Are you—are you still blaming me…”

“You’re overthinking.” Ji Chi pulled out two more bundles. “This is dividend distribution. Because of your mistake, I’ve unilaterally reduced your equity, so you can only get one thousand gold coins.”

“This is Master Bard’s share.” Ji Chi handed another bundle to Bard.

Bard seemed to realize something. Glancing sideways at William’s extremely ugly expression, he couldn’t help but laugh out loud and accepted it in good spirits.

“This is Chloe’s share.” Chloe’s bundle was especially large. She accepted it and looked at Ji Chi uncomprehendingly.

Ji Chi gently rubbed her head, praising without stinting, “Chloe did wonderfully this time!”

Chloe was stunned, then broke into a brilliant smile, attracting quite a few furtive glances from contestants.

She softly thanked him, then moved her free hand to her stomach, clearly about to open it right there.

Cold sweat instantly broke out on Ji Chi’s forehead. He immediately grabbed her wrist. “How about I—I keep it safe for you first…”

Under Linton’s contemptuous little glare, Ji Chi took back the gold coins and moved next to Bard, asking through gritted teeth, “I’ve wanted to complain about this for a long time—why is her storage space still in her stomach? Why didn’t you teach her to use a magic pouch?”

Bard wrinkled his face. “How could I go changing the God of Forging’s design? Besides, she’s long been accustomed to using her storage space. How could it be so easy to change? Just like you’re right there at the Magic Academy, but we don’t see you learning magic, do we?”

That’s so reasonable! Ji Chi couldn’t refute it and straightened up, muttering, “Just keep spoiling her then…”

While the group was bickering, their turn to submit the design quickly arrived.

Bard held the design and, guided by an attendant, entered a separately partitioned room. Inside, five white-haired elders sat behind a long table.

When they saw Bard, a flash of surprise crossed their eyes. They all stood up collectively and bowed slightly to show their respect.

Bard held a high position among engineers. His exceptional profession skills were one aspect, but what was even more admirable was his unwavering principles as an engineer.

The elders sat down, their tone taking on a few degrees of kindness. “Contestant Bard Borg, you may now submit your design.”

Bard nodded to them and placed the design on the long table, unfolding it. The impressive appearance of the equipment set presented itself before their eyes.

The moment the elders saw the design, they all furrowed their brows tightly and exchanged glances. One of the dwarf elders couldn’t contain his temper and asked sternly, “Master Borg, this design is a duplicate. Are you perhaps…”

Bard calmly interrupted him. “I know. I only learned yesterday that it had been stolen, so we spent a day modifying it. Please look carefully again—”

“It’s even more excellent than the design you’ve already seen!”