Wizard: I Add Points and Hunt Monsters

Wei’en stepped out the door. Before closing it, he gave Miss Zombie an encouraging gesture. ”Believe in yourself, and keep practicing. I’m going to go check on Zero-Type.”

”Okay, I will!” Shawa nodded emphatically, then turned and dragged her less-stiff body back to her struggle with the drill press.

CLICK.

Once the workshop door was closed, Wei’en kept his hand on the doorknob for a long moment. The smile was gone from his face, replaced by a faint look of distress.

’At Shawa’s practice speed, she’s burning through tens of gold pounds worth of Sarr metal a day.’

’I can’t say she has no talent, since she can produce a few acceptable parts. But to say she has talent... when only one or two out of a hundred are usable.’

’What a disaster...’

’It’s all that damn Liaison Officer’s fault. Damn her, she really deserves to die!’

With this in mind, Wei’en turned and entered Zero-Type’s workshop. Compared to the gentle words he used with Shawa, his approach with the Mechanical Life was much more direct and blunt.

”Your task today is to produce all the component parts. You need to complete at least one full set. As for inscribing the runes, I’ll handle that step for now. We’ll talk about it after you’ve learned the Foundation, Spirit-Turn, and Solid Heart runes.”

”Yes, Father.”

Zero-Type nodded obediently. Although he only had three finished parts beside him, he still spoke very loudly.

’It’s so hard. Whether it’s the fine polishing of the parts or the runes that look like simple symmetrical patterns but are actually filled with minute details, it’s all too difficult for me.’

”Mm, carry on.”

Wei’en didn’t stay long. Although Zero-Type’s progress was comparable to Shawa’s, it was clear he had already learned how to make the parts and was quite skilled in using some of the mechanical tools.

’It’s fine if he can’t build a complete Mechanical Puppet on his own. As long as he can handle one step of the assembly line, that will save me a lot of time.’

’Most importantly, Zero-Type’s success rate is high, and his material consumption isn’t as outrageous as Miss Zombie’s. That part, at least, is a great relief.’

’Gold pounds, gold pounds...’

Wei’en looked at his completely empty wallet and decided he had to sell the Anomaly-Suppressing Potions he’d made earlier. Otherwise, forget about materials for the Mechanical Puppets; he wouldn’t even have the gold pounds to exchange for Magic knowledge.

Thinking this, he returned to his own workshop, took out the Nightmare Realm Entry Ticket, and placed it on his forehead.

As his consciousness ascended, he appeared directly on the same Mechanical Floating Island he had left from last time.

”...Have you all figured it out? The vortex structure isn’t the main point. What’s more important are the dispersed nodes that serve as the power core. That’s a technology for splitting one core into multiple cores.”

”Today’s lesson is on them. You must find all the energy conversion cores, and... Hiss! Origin 562... A G-G-Great Mage?!”

’Great Mage?’

As Wei’en entered the Nightmare Realm World, he saw a shadowy silhouette, its entire body mechanized, staring at him with a pair of crimson eyes.

’Oops, I forgot to change my Origin level...’

He glanced at the people around him, saw they were all Transformers from the Mechanical School, and said flatly, ”It’s also possible the vortex structure itself is an energy node.”

As soon as he finished speaking, he calmly walked off the Mechanical Floating Island and headed toward the Transfer Area.

The dozen or so Mechanical Transformers stared blankly at his retreating back. The effects of the Nightmare Realm World prevented them from seeing Wei’en’s appearance clearly, but his words echoed in their ears.

’The vortex structure itself is an energy core?’

The fully mechanized Transformer at the head of the group repeated this sentence a few times, his crimson eyes glowing brighter and brighter. He growled, ”Quick! Do as that master said! Find all the vortex structures today, and along with the other energy cores, draw up a simple design schematic.”

”Sir, is that really possible? According to what you said before, the purpose of a vortex structure is to save energy consumption. If it’s an energy core...”

”What damn nonsense are you spouting? Just record it as I told you to!”

”Understood!” Seeing this, the other Mechanical Transformers didn’t dare to delay and quickly began examining the various damaged areas on the Floating Island, observing and deducing the vortex structures and energy nodes within.

Meanwhile, Wei’en had already left the Floating Island area, crossing a suspension bridge back to the high platform.

’That was just something I said off the cuff. With my knowledge of runology, I don’t know the first thing about vortex structures. I just heard those Mechanical Transformers mention that the energy core was dispersed, and had a sudden thought that the vortex structure might also function as an energy core node.’

’I hope they can succeed in replicating that Mechanical Floating Island. It would count as a great masterpiece of the Fifth Era.’

”...Someone once tried to build a Mechanical Floating Island. In the end, they failed. You can’t do that in this new era, you know?”

’Hm?’

Wei’en heard the familiar voice and looked up to see the shadowy figure completely shrouded in a black robe—the same one he had encountered when he first entered the Captain’s Area. He felt more and more certain it was the same person.

”What bullshit. If I could build a Floating Island like that, how could I still be just Captain-level? The Despair Sect would have long since hailed me as a great Prophet.”

The shadowy figure chuckled. ”It’s good that you don’t want to try. It’s a truly unreliable endeavor, especially in the current Divine Prohibition Era. Let me tell you...”

Wei’en was struck speechless for a moment, then laughed. He found this shadowy figure very interesting. Last time he was here, the figure had clearly said that someone in this era had tried to build a Mechanical Floating Island, but now he was advising others against trying...