Chapter 5: When Magic Meets Technology

The next day, above the southern skies of the Mountains of Ten Thousand Demons.

“Wow! Is this the latest flying wing designed by Miss Iriush? It feels so different from before!”

Soaring through the cerulean sky with her own physical presence, Tilysha couldn’t help but let out an excited exclamation, full of amazement.

Miss Vilyric, Xiao Guang, and Leila Renée surrounded her, ready to catch the little girl should she make a mistake and fall, considering the other four had the ability to fly freely without external assistance, unlike Tilysha, who was using Iriush’s newly developed “Artificial Flight Wing No. 1799.”

That’s right, No. 1799.

After more than half a month of test flights, followed by continuous iterations, constant testing, and improvements, Iriush finally completed a product that was versatile and high-performing enough that even a novice like Tilysha could easily master and use it, thanks to the assistance of Vilyric and the others.

Although a certain doll girl was reportedly still working tirelessly on modifications, the current version was more than ready for official use.

With that thought, Vilyric couldn’t help but glance at the delicate, shimmering silver-white wings fluttering behind the blue-haired girl. Compared to the original version tested by Xiao Lan, No. 1799 had shrunk significantly in size, now about half of the initial version. It had also transitioned from mimicking Vilyric’s “Wings of God” to a more agile and lightweight design after some adjustments.

For aesthetics, Iriush, under the suggestion of the Priestess, painted it with a special material that reduced the mechanical stiffness while this outer shell, composed of a magic-conducting alloy powder, provided good magic resistance and significantly slowed the internal components’ rusting speed.

One exceptionally praiseworthy point is that.

While the overall operation method didn’t differ much from before, the most crucial energy section had undergone significant improvements. It still used light energy, but the way it was absorbed changed dramatically based on a suggestion from Vilyric.

Magic Crystals, or rather, pure light element crystals personally condensed by the Priestess.

The various magic crystals in this world are mostly formed from massive magical power elements in the earth’s veins, which are compressed through fortunate coincidences and then accumulate over hundreds or thousands of years into an entity’s essence. Therefore, magic crystal mines usually only appear underground or become evident after events like earthquakes.

The ability to condense magical power elements into a solid form was not particularly difficult for the Priestess.

The 5th-tier “Radiant Source Crystal” seen in the underground black market of Demon Town was probably the energy left behind after she used the 10th-tier magic “Eternal Guardian Light” in battle against the Southern Disaster.

On her way to Spirit Butterfly Peak, while charging Xiao Lan’s experimental flight wing, she considered that since it only needed ample light, it didn’t explicitly require Vilyric to perform this task by hand. Furthermore, could this process be executed without human involvement, relying on an object instead?

Thus, the idea of using light element crystals as a power core came into being naturally.

Now, the flight wing behind Tilysha housed two 5th-tier pure light element crystals crafted by Vilyric herself, with one hidden in each recessed area of the left and right wings. This allowed the flight wing to absorb the unceasing light energy released by the pure crystals and convert it into power.

Preliminary estimates suggested that it would take at least over a thousand hours of uninterrupted high-speed flight before the energy in the five magic crystals would be exhausted, and its status would be relayed to the control panel in real-time through a detection device made by Iriush, allowing users to be prepared in advance.

The Priestess could certainly create higher quality light element crystals; however, since 5th-tier crystals were already sufficient for the flight wing’s long-duration operation, using excessively high-quality crystals would inevitably lead to core value surpassing that of the machine itself, potentially attracting unwanted attention and resulting in troublesome issues like “innocent bystanders.”

Vilyric hadn’t forgotten the terrifying three million gold price for that “Radiant Source Crystal” back at the universal shop, and just recently, she had given Iriush several hundred similar stones as spare parts.

Of course, in exchange, the flight wings manufactured were offered to the Priestess free of charge.

By the way, a few days ago, Edwina received an urgent letter from the Holy Empire’s family and hurried back. To save time, the Priestess also provided her with a similar flight wing.

Although the completed products crafted by Iriush were limited, Vilyric received exactly four or five of them, which she stored in her backpack space. As for how to distribute and use them later? That’s a matter for when the need arises; one can never have too much of good things.

Now setting aside the flying wings for a moment, Vilyric and her group were headed to a place known as the “Gateway Land,” the only entrance to the “Illusion Realm” guarded for many years by Gatekeeper Min Chen, aside from Spirit Butterfly Peak.

Although thanks to everyone’s joint efforts and some trump cards left by the magic god, Sylvania and Aileen were unable to seize the magic god’s authority and thus the true power of the Source of Magic, the Illusion Realm ultimately did not fall into a state of complete collapse as prophesied.

That said, the current situation couldn’t exactly be deemed optimistic.

While the world passage had been closed once more, the Source of Magic had absorbed too much Power of Faith over the years and was inherently unstable, compounded by this turmoil, which could only be described as the last straw.

The method of bearing part of the power via division no longer worked; the previous division was absorbed by Sylvania and then shattered by a certain Priestess’s strike. The true Source of Magic, Noviya Moonshadow, became the only pillar supporting the existence of the Illusion Realm.

This meant that if the situation of the Illusion Realm continued to deteriorate, Noviya might have to remain in close proximity to the Gateway Land for an extended period to maintain its stability, or even… become the second Gatekeeper.

This was undoubtedly a cruel choice for a little wolf cub born only a few years ago and her mother, Vanessa Moonshadow.

And Vilyric’s journey was naturally to resolve this issue.

“Oh, we’ve arrived.”

Gazing down at the mountains resembling the description, Vilyric exchanged glances with the other girls before leading the descent.

The “Gateway Land” was a squeezed space independent of both the Illusion Realm and the real world, and it was impossible to enter through ordinary means, thus requiring them to find the entrance first.

“Miss Vilyric, and everyone, I have been waiting for quite some time.”

As the girls landed on the platform at the mountain’s peak, a girl with bright blue hair dressed in a peculiar battle skirt woven from green leaves waited here, holding two curved blades that could be combined, slightly bowing her head as if greeting the Priestess and the others.

Vilyric smiled in return, scanning the surrounding scenery with her silver-blue eyes before focusing back on the blue-haired girl and the distorted door behind her.

“Miss Barta, you’re too polite. By the way, hasn’t Walter returned yet? Why are you still guarding the Southern Region Peak?”

   

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