Chapter Nineteen: The Turning Point

After consulting Lecturer Moritz about some questions regarding the Arcane Furnace, Lando left with complete confidence.

Interestingly, ever since Lando first attended one of Moritz’s public lectures, he happened to run into the lecturer just as he was leaving. Figuring that asking questions never hurt anyone, Lando approached him directly. To his surprise, Lecturer Moritz proved to be far more approachable than expected, patiently resolving many of Lando’s doubts.

As time went on, Lando and Moritz became gradually acquainted, to the point where Lando could now seek his guidance at any time.

Passing by a special display case, Lando glanced at the newest models of intelligent cores—some even prototypes from research labs. Of course, most of these were displayed only for demonstration, since the very first lesson for any arcane scholar at the Academy was never to entrust matters of life and death to another’s hands.

Thus, even though he could sever his connection to Little White with a single command or by simply removing his wristband—despite how much Little White had helped with his studies—Lando still found it hard to truly warm up to the core.

Arriving at the Academy’s dining hall, he strode straight to the third floor and called out loudly, “Old Mor, bring your best dishes! I have important matters to attend to after eating!”

A white-bearded elder, barely one and a half meters tall, was dozing in a rocking chair. Startled awake, he shot Lando a glare. “You rascal! Don’t you know it’s terribly rude to disturb an old man’s nap?”

“Hurry up, Old Mor! I can’t wait to taste your cooking!” Lando replied with a cheeky grin, entirely unbothered.

Even though 9527 cooked well, ever since Lando had tasted the food made by this halfling elder, Old Mor, he rarely ate in his dormitory. Old Mor had an odd rule: he never accepted orders; what he served depended entirely on his mood.

For Lando, however, this only heightened the anticipation—each day brought a delightful surprise.

The entire third floor of the dining hall had been taken over by Old Mor and his halfling crew. The halflings had a steady employment relationship with the Silver Tower and were active in every corner of it. The reason was simple: within the Silver Tower resided a legendary halfling arcanist.

Today’s feast was a pile of golden, crispy, roasted meat—of unknown origin—still clinging to the bone, generous in portion, accompanied by a rich, fragrant soup.

Old Mor set the food before Lando, a proud look on his face as he returned to his rocking chair. “Boy, today you’ll finally witness the true skill of Old Mor, hmmph!”

Lando couldn’t wait. He took a huge bite—the springy meat, locked beneath a layer of crisp skin, burst with juices in his mouth. The flavor was so exquisite he almost felt he might swallow his tongue by accident. A mouthful of soup followed, the savory aroma exploding across his taste buds, mingling with the roasted meat in a chemical reaction he could hardly describe. He couldn’t stop.

Watching Lando devour the meal, unable even to speak, Old Mor’s prideful smile deepened.

By the time Lando finally paused, all that remained of the roast was a well-gnawed bone, still bearing the marks of his teeth, and the soup was gone.

“That was incredible!” Lando exclaimed in genuine admiration.

“Boy, are you putting it on the tab again?” Old Mor asked.

Lando smiled sheepishly—though that hint of embarrassment would never stop him from coming back for another free meal.

Old Mor had a rule: any arcanist could eat on credit here, but the debt must be repaid with rare ingredients or unique recipes in the future.

“Hmph! Off with you, brat! The sight of you is irritating!” Old Mor waved him off.

“No problem!” Lando replied, scampering off at once.

A younger halfling approached Old Mor, a mixture of helplessness and resentment in his voice. “Papa Mor, that elemental beast was one of our rarest ingredients, and you just…”

“Rubbish! Ingredients are for cooking, food is for eating. Do you have a problem with that?” Old Mor snapped.

“But—but—Papa, we wanted to taste that elemental beast too!”

“Papa, you’re playing favorites!”

“We’ve worked here so long and never had a good piece of meat! I quit!”

“The smell alone was driving me mad just now!”

The kitchen descended into chaos.

Old Mor bellowed, “Quiet! It’s called an investment, understand? An investment!”

…

Lando, feeling the lively element affinity within his body, murmured to himself, “Food that buffs attributes? Seems I owe quite a favor now!”

Back at his dorm, he ignored 9527’s greeting.

“Little White, I’m going into seclusion.”

“Understood. Entering seclusion mode. Temporary dormitory protection activated. Auto-reply for messages enabled. The elemental formation in the training chamber is preheated. Lando, I wish you success.”

“Thank you.”

“Intelligent core Little White entering silent mode…”

He entered the training chamber, now saturated with rich elemental energy. Lando took a deep breath and stepped inside.

…

Lando had no idea that many others were watching him with interest.

In a certain sky garden, Moritz and Otto sat in a pavilion, sipping tea. Suddenly, Moritz paused. “He’s begun. Lando’s intelligent core has entered seclusion mode.”

“Hmm. What do you think of the boy?” Otto asked.

Moritz considered, then answered honestly, “Rather ordinary. Once in a while he has a bright idea, but overall, his performance is average.”

“Oh?” Otto sipped his tea, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.

Moritz couldn’t help but ask, “When the basic detector checked him, did it really show a violet glow? I can’t help but feel…”

“Karter and Mesut wouldn’t both make the same mistake, and they’d never lie to me. In such cases, there are usually two possibilities: either Lando’s aptitude is the very limit of blue, or it surpasses blue and reaches violet. Whatever the case, he’s worth our time and effort to cultivate.”

“Yes, Brother Otto. Lando is not to be worried about. The first stage of the Arcane Furnace—nodes—has only one real difficulty: condensing nine nodes at once and balancing their attraction and repulsion, and he’s more than capable of it.”

Otto nodded calmly. Even if Lando was confirmed to have a violet aptitude and be deemed a true arcanist seed by the academy, he still wasn’t worth Otto’s full attention—at least, not yet.

“Brother Otto, how… how are you progressing?” Moritz asked cautiously.

“You mean my advancement to Grand Arcanist? It’s proving much harder than I imagined,” Otto admitted.

“Ah! Then… perhaps you should…” Moritz hesitated, choosing his words with care.

“Even now, I only have seventy percent confidence,” Otto said, a teasing glint in his eyes.

“What? What!?” Moritz stared at him, dumbfounded.

“It’s all right. I’ve already unraveled every difficulty required for advancement to Grand Arcanist. However, the resources needed are too rare to rely solely on the Silver Tower. So, I plan to travel for a while and gather what I need.”

“Ah… abba abba…” Moritz was stunned.

Among arcanists, even a one hundred percent chance is counted as seventy percent. That’s common sense!