Chapter 266: The Final Construction

"I haven't had any children yet." Mage Yisier blushed as she touched her flat belly. "I rarely spend time with him, and he often attends those so-called banquets, which makes me very uncomfortable." A sad expression suddenly appeared on her face. "I'm afraid that staying in the capital for so long will waste his talent."

Shaoke knew what the female mage was referring to, so he gently embraced her and whispered comforting words. "Stay in the capital and keep a close watch on him," he said, unable to suppress a smile. "Don't let him waste too much time on those useless banquets."

"My persuasion hasn't had any effect at all." Female mage Yisier suddenly smiled. "Maybe everyone has their own way of living. He no longer has the diligence he showed on the battlefield back then. Perhaps this is for the better; at least I don't have to feel too guilty."

The mages didn't talk for long in the camp. Afterwards, Shaoke invited the two female mages to rest in his small hut. Upon learning that the two female mages would be staying here for over a month, Shaoke happily prepared exquisite food and fine snow grape wine for them, and even brought out snow bee honey for them to taste. It's worth mentioning that the one-year-old baby girl would reach out her little hands for the honey every time she smelled it. Of course, the mages would satisfy the future spellcaster's demands to some extent.

Through conversation, Shaoke mentioned the events he had encountered this year to the two female mages, and finally sighed, "Is it worth sacrificing so much for these young mages? I think it would be better for them to endure some hardships." He fell silent, looking at the little one asleep beside him, pondering how to nurture this infant in the future.

"No one has the heart to do that," Mage Roman sighed softly. "All the professionals studying in the Academy City have talents far superior to their peers. Almost all the empire's geniuses are gathered there. If an accident were to happen under these circumstances, I think the higher-ups simply couldn't accept it."

"But protecting them like this is no solution." Shaoke frowned and recounted what had happened two days ago, adding, "They're already third-rank professionals." He sighed softly again. "Does talent really determine a person's entire life? Why don't ordinary professionals receive such treatment?"

"We don't have the right to make those rules, so we don't need to worry about it." Mage Yisier rested her head on Shaoke's lap, shifted to a more comfortable position, and closed her eyes to rest. Soon after, Mage Roman also joined her.

A month passed quickly, and the two female mages once again braved the snowstorm to take a carriage back to the capital. However, before leaving, Mage Roman took out a magic bag of valuable magic materials and handed them to Shaoke. After hesitating for a long time, under the female mage's pleading eyes, Shaoke accepted the bag of materials and watched the two mages disappear into the snowstorm.

Not until the blizzard, which lasted over five months, ended did any mage team arrive at the town where Shaoke was staying. The token left in his care by that Seventh Tier Mage was never retrieved. By then, the large number of students had finished their exploration and returned to their academies. What their future paths would be was none of Shaoke's concern.

After the snowstorm subsided, Shaoke once again prepared a large amount of daily necessities. This time, he planned to stay in his mountain laboratory for two or three years, as Mage Roman would be busy with various matters in the coming years and wouldn't have enough time to continue her travels. Thus, the mage could focus on his research in the lab.

After rechecking the talents of the newborns and finding nothing, Shaoke informed the officer and, under cover of night, returned to the underground laboratory at the mountaintop.

The mage stayed there for a long time. He only knew he made the trip to town for supplies every two years, three times in total. Mage Roman and Mage Yisier never came again, but they sent letters to Shaoke through the military postal system or merchant caravans. Each time, Mage Roman would send him a small amount of magic materials. Knowing that he was researching something, she would set aside some precious materials from her experiments and send them to him. Of course, the legion was aware of this, but because of her status and the small quantity each time, they didn't make a big deal of it.

Shaoke's laboratory had entered its final crucial stage. After five or six years of preparation and modifications, the last phase of his laboratory required an even greater surge in materials. But according to his estimates, if this attempt succeeded, his small laboratory would be far more effective than the medium-sized ones described in books. Moreover, with his experimental modifications, this laboratory could be built by mages below the Eighth Tier.

The precious magic materials were ground into powder or crystalline structures. Shaoke used up all the valuable materials he had accumulated over the years, including those gifted by Mage Roman, leaving not a single trace. He processed them all initially.

There was still the stone cauldron, but this time it was firmly rooted into the ground. Feeling he had reached his peak state, Shaoke began the final step of the laboratory without any hesitation. Puffs of powder and various materials were added to the cauldron, where arcane fire burned. This time, however, the arcane fire was sustained entirely by crystals and magic cores, because the melting of materials would take dozens of times longer than during the previous filling of the magic array.

Inside the cauldron, which was over a man's height, after adding three to five tons of magic materials, there was still no visible change. But the previously black arcane fire now turned a light blue. After all the materials were added, Shaoke stayed by the cauldron in the third layer of the laboratory day and night, quickly replacing the depleted crystals or magic cores. This work had to be done almost every magic hour. This continued for nearly ten days, until the arcane fire turned a deep blue, signaling that the material blending was successful.

Calming his nerves, Shaoke stood by the cauldron and began chanting spells. Segments of Ancient Magic Script were continuously condensed and then quickly merged into the cauldron. This process was repeated over a dozen times before the mage finished this step. Now, only the final step remained.

Following a specific incantation, the fire and magmatic liquid inside the cauldron underwent drastic changes. First, the magmatic liquid, now a pale blue, flowed out from the nine dragon heads under the mage's direction, swiftly spiraling around the central stone pillar. It then traced along the previous magic array structures, extending into some blank areas and eventually merging into those arrays, disappearing.

After no more magmatic liquid flowed out, Shaoke suddenly threw all the Snow Bee Queen blood he had collected over the past few years into the cauldron. The deep blue flames then underwent a dramatic transformation. The flames, which had been radiating heat, suddenly changed their nature and began to emit a cold aura.

Prepared for this, Shaoke remained calm. After a brief recovery, he continued chanting spells in the Ancient Magic Language. As the incantation progressed, magic scripts continuously flew out from the blue flames, landing in the areas where the magmatic liquid had entered. With the integration of these magic scripts, each blank area began to undergo changes.

Some areas bulged to form altar-like structures, while others sank to create complex Six-pointed Star Magic Array patterns. Finally, after the blue flames formed the last few magic scripts, most of them disappeared, leaving only a small amount of flame still burning in the cauldron. It would only vanish once the energy was exhausted.

The final magic scripts formed by the flames quickly merged into the massive stone pillar, which was carved with countless beasts and strange magical creature heads. As these scripts entered, the pillar underwent a tremendous change. A blue flame suddenly enveloped the pillar, and then some of the fire scattered into the newly formed altars, arrays, and depressions.

By this time, Shaoke had stopped chanting. Although the recent consumption was significant, he did not begin meditation. Instead, he focused his attention on sensing the fluctuations brought by the blue flames. He knew that if all went smoothly, after the blue flames disappeared, his slightly modified laboratory could be considered a success.

As the blue flames burned, all the engraved magic arrays in the third layer began to emit fluctuations. As these fluctuations synchronized, the magic materials filling the arrays started to flow slowly. Seeing this, Shaoke knew his experiment was about to succeed. If the magic materials on the arrays continued to circulate after the flames vanished, the laboratory would be a complete success.

As the flames weakened, the newly formed altars and arrays began to rotate slowly, eventually stopping after reaching a certain frequency. With the operation of these arrays, a thin layer of white mist appeared above the depressions. This mist did not disperse but quickly condensed under the effect of the arrays, then suddenly shrank into the man-deep depressions, forming some gray water droplets. These droplets were the elemental water essential for a true laboratory.

As for the uses of this water, it was involved in almost all high-level magic experiments, and it was also a necessary material for making certain high-level potions. Of course, the elemental paper Shaoke had once used was made by soaking special paper in elemental water.