The man wore a well-tailored, dark-striped gray suit with a dark brown silk tie fastened at his collar. A knee-length trench coat in a matching shade hung on a coat rack in the corner of the classroom.
He appeared very young, yet carried the dignified, elegant demeanor of a seasoned professor.
He stepped away from the glass window covered in beautiful writing and returned to his podium.
Many students were still staring toward the glass.
Even setting aside the meaning behind it all, the lines, columns, and tree diagrams formed by his handwriting possessed a breathtaking beauty that made it impossible to look away.
"Over the past century, the rapid progress in magical engineering has not merely been a step forward. Rather, new ways of understanding the world have gradually unfolded before us. Someone opened the door, and as we peer through the crack, we behold a hidden world within our own—a realm brimming with energy, contradictions, and things some might find hard to accept."
Standing at the podium, he addressed the numerous students seated in the lecture-hall-sized classroom.
The bell of the Elliott Building chimed, rippling through the misty air, yet it did not break the students' rapt attention.
"Magical engineering is like sheet music. The point is not whether you can read the score, but whether you can hear the music. Can you hear it?"
He patted the podium, his gaze seemingly resting on every single student.
"I can."
A brief silence settled over the room, but soon many students nodded softly, their hearts stirring with excitement.
Just as Lanqi's speech was underway—
"Professor, where are we supposed to find the fuel?"
The question came from a noble-looking girl with slit pupils. The way she spoke up before raising her hand bordered on urgent.
She had been scribbling rapid calculations with pen and paper all along, immediately arriving at this glaring problem and bringing it up.
However, Lanqi had always run an open floor in his classes, so he didn't mind a student's boldness.
Among the student body, besides humans, there were a handful of beastfolk.
Of the three original realms that made up the land of the Creti Empire, the Syros Empire had been an almost purely human empire; the Elthea Sanctuary had harbored a small number of elven descendants and rare races; and the Vince Free Federation had included beastfolk lords.
Although humans remained the overwhelming majority after unification, one could occasionally spot Cretians with beastly traits or pointed ears in the streets and among the nobility.
For instance, Bianca, ranked last among the Twelve War Gods and appointed to the Cat's Eye Seat, was a cat-kin, while Ryan, the Ninth War God appointed to the Amethyst Seat, possessed the bloodline of the griffin tribe.
"Right now, military energy in the Creti Empire cannot possibly be diverted to civilian use."
Even before Lanqi could answer, the other students had already begun pondering the issue.
"At first glance, this theory sounds full of potential and innovation, but putting it into practice is like trying to stuff a dragon into a wardrobe."
"Can it really be done?"
Most of them had been writing and calculating continuously as they listened, and they quickly caught on to the exact same dilemma:
Where would the ultra-high-grade energy and raw materials needed to trigger such specialized detonations come from?
Without solving that, it was nothing more than empty talk on paper.
Talia was also voicing her doubts in Lanqi's mind.
The core principle behind Lanqi's detonations was a composite attribute of [Fire] and [Seal], which naturally incorporated the properties of sealing magic—
Costless sealing arts virtually always required a medium.
Otherwise, the caster would undoubtedly suffer a severe backlash.
And the best framework mediums were usually related to the regeneration branch, capable of canceling out the cost of sealing arts in a positive-negative balance.
Since they didn't have a top-tier recyclable core material like the [Wolf King's Proud Heart], they would need to find lower-tier substitutes.
Still, with the family resources behind these Saint Creti Monastery students, obtaining a Pink Sacred quality regenerative material within the Creti Empire was by no means out of reach. If the material also possessed sealing affinity, its power would be even greater.
Of course, what mattered even more was the technique, calibration, and consumable supplies.
"It will be done. Don't you think that if we could develop a new energy source, it might become an equally great—if not greater—subject of research?"
Lanqi's expression remained steady. Looking at the students as if he were already standing at the finish line, he gave a firm reply.
"A new energy source?"
"A new energy source viable for this military-grade application..."
"To compress density that high, it's not like we can just gather a bunch of Epic-grade magic apparatuses to refine, right?"
A murmur rose in the classroom once more, and the mention of Epic-grade magic apparatuses even drew chuckles.
After all, if someone actually got their hands on an Epic-grade magic apparatus, no one would blow it up.
If a compact, high-density energy source capable of replacing an Epic-grade magic apparatus could truly be found, developing it would be a far greater breakthrough than the new bomb itself.
For the Creti Empire of today, if such an energy source existed, Professor Landry would likely have been whisked off to serve as an adviser for the Imperial Armaments Department instead of standing here.
"Naturally, that is another research project currently underway. It will not take the form of classroom lectures, but rather work conducted inside a laboratory. I will only recruit a small number of students proficient in the [Alchemy] attribute to assist me."
Lanqi simply assured them:
"You needn't worry about the energy supply. I will provide the fruits of this research directly to you. Within a month, I will issue you the experimental energy medium—it will most likely come as a granular, liquid, or crystalline red substance."
The hall erupted into a flurry of commotion. The seats were filled with upperclassmen, and they exchanged stunned glances.
Professor Landry's research sounded far too epoch-defining. He seemed to be studying creations meant for gods, leaving them unsure whether the professor was speaking the honest truth or had completely lost his mind.
*This isn't civilian magical engineering at all—this is straight-up imperial military ordnance!*
"Where are you getting this energy?"
Talia had no idea what energy source Lanqi was talking about.
High-performance bombs were one thing; she understood the principles behind them. After all, she had watched Lanqi blow things up from Tier 1 all the way to Tier 6 with evident relish. It seemed as though he had been born to invent bombs.
Yet this divinely crafted energy Lanqi spoke of was something she, his most respected and beloved mentor, had never heard a peep about.
Miss Unity, the Allied assassin they had run into on the Brierda mana rail train, was bound to come looking for him sooner or later. If she learned about the magical engineering principles he was teaching at Saint Creti Monastery, she would definitely seek him out directly.
"Tata, have you heard of the Philosopher's Stone?"
Lanqi asked her.
"What is that?"
Talia sent her thought back.
"The Philosopher's Stone is an extraordinarily powerful alchemical item capable of defying the fundamental rule of alchemy—Equivalent Exchange. That means an alchemist utilizing the Philosopher's Stone can create or transmute matter without providing equal value. In practice, the creation process of the Philosopher's Stone requires refining countless human lives, making it fraught with immense moral controversy."
Lanqi replied.
"Does such a thing really exist...?"
Talia recalled that demon legends contained something similar, but they were mere rumors. She had never seen one, let alone known the recipe.
According to Lanqi's explanation, even if it did exist, the Philosopher's Stone could not entirely circumvent alchemical principles. The conversion efficiency would be minuscule, requiring national-scale sacrifice just to forge a Philosopher's Stone with nation-destroying power.
"It does."
Lanqi answered.
"How do you know?"
Talia asked.
"..."
Lanqi stayed silent.
"..."
Talia fell silent too.
*Boy... you don't actually have the recipe, do you?!*
"Refining it from humans is undeniably immoral," Lanqi explained earnestly to Talia. "However, there is another species. They feed on human blood day in and day out, meaning their very existence mirrors the refinement of the Philosopher's Stone. Refining it from them is merely confiscating ill-gotten gains.
"Through joint research between the Necalis Research Institute and the modern technology provided by me and the Poet of Great Love, the genius demon prodigy True Night Lord Esmod nearly completed a prototype. We just need to capture enough members of the Blood Clan to refine it into a true Philosopher's Stone."
Back at the Demon King's Castle, the captured Fourth Progenitor Eduardo and Tenth Progenitor Ulysses were simply too powerful, making their blood difficult to refine into fuel. By contrast, Count Gregory, captured in the Land of Evernight alongside Xigelei, possessed blood far more suitable for refining into a semi-finished Philosopher's Stone.
There had been no vampires to catch over in the Hutton Kingdom. Now that he had arrived in the Creti Empire, Lanqi's research project could finally move forward.
"What kind of forbidden bullshit are you messing around with?!"
"Don't worry, Tata. When my research findings are published on the Allied side, I'll be sure to include an acknowledgment to you. After all, the subsequent work will require you, the modern demon prodigy, to help me perfect it."
"That's not an acknowledgment, that's slander!"
Listening to him, she almost felt like reporting this human.
If Lanqi put her name on an academic journal, she would lose her temper at him.
Even during the Holy War, the demons had rarely conceived of conducting human transmutation on massive numbers of living souls to convert them into high-grade condensed energy.
Yet high-tier Blood Clan members were naturally undead creatures formed by absorbing countless human beings, containing biological energy countless times that of a mortal human.
Aside from tanning vampires, eating vampires, and detonating vampires, this lunatic was now studying vampire transmutation.
*How deeply did you hate the Blood Clan in your past life to torture them like this in this one?*
After the hubbub in the large lecture hall deep on the fourth floor of the Elliott Building simmered for a good while, Professor Landry on the podium spoke again.
"While ensuring we fulfill our syllabus objectives, I may introduce certain content outside the original curriculum. Naturally, these sections are entirely voluntary and will not be tested. Other students are also welcome to sit in—this is an open classroom."
He looked at the students.
"Regarding the new energy source, I will likely disclose the principles once the technology matures. I have no intention of hiding it away; it will certainly be handed over to the state. And standing here, my purpose is to pass this knowledge on to you. The future of the Creti Empire cannot rely on any single individual, but on everyone—on me, on you, and on all of us together."
To weave proprietary, advanced magical engineering insights into a curriculum unquestionably meant that the instructor had attained the absolute pinnacle of his specialization.
Although the students below remained skeptical about this new energy source, one look at the windowpane—filled with material they couldn't even begin to digest anytime soon—convinced them that this professor was unlikely to be a fraud.
"Interesting."
A clear, crisp voice rang out almost imperceptibly among the noble students seated on the right side of the hall.
At the sound, Elsa Washington, who had been listening intently in the cluster of commoner students on the left, twitched her ear.
She skillfully concealed her reaction at once and glanced sharply across the room toward the noble girl.
The girl she watched from afar possessed green eyes and purple hair. Her skin was so fair it seemed almost translucent, and her exquisite features looked like a masterpiece sculpted by a master craftsman, touched with a boyish charm that made it impossible to look away.
Sensing her gaze, the green-eyed, purple-haired girl looked over toward Elsa Washington.
*Ursula, please don't mess with my brother.*
Elsa looked at her with concern, mouthing the words silently yet urgently across the room.
She glanced back at the podium toward her brother, Landry, who felt slightly unfamiliar yet remained perpetually enigmatic.
She had never imagined their reunion would take place inside a classroom at Saint Creti Monastery.
*What do you mean, "mess with your brother"?*
The girl named Ursula looked at Elsa with feigned indignation, though her lips curved playfully and her eyes narrowed into crescents.
"..."
Elsa stopped staring at the far right of the classroom, refusing to waste more time on that genuine high noble.
Ursula Roland.
Her Roland family was one of the most distinguished houses in the Santa Empire, and Ursula was the younger sister of the current Marquess, the Ninth War God Ryan Roland. She had known Elsa since high school.
Living up to her title as the daughter of the griffin house, she combined beauty and brilliance in equal measure.
As a student who had rapidly made a name for herself upon entering Saint Creti Monastery's School of Magical Engineering, Ursula commanded envy on every front—her illustrious background, breathtaking beauty, and extraordinary talent.
Yet geniuses were rarely tamed. Such a near-perfect girl habitually indulged in eccentric antics; for instance, she always acted on whim, caring not in the least whether her behavior lacked decorum or brought shame upon her family.
She seemed perpetually intent on infuriating Marquess Ryan, though the marquess never paid her any heed.
In the eyes of the faculty at Saint Creti Monastery, Ursula Roland was practically a walking bomb: whenever she found she couldn't please everyone, she would set about trying to displease everyone.
And with her elder brother being Marquess Ryan of the Amethyst Seat, the Ninth War God, no one dared retaliate against her.
When news broke that the new instructor was a newcomer of no renown named Landry Washington, the curious smile that crossed Ursula's face had already unnerved those around her.
She and Elsa were among the very few lowerclassmen attending this Level 4 class. Having known Elsa for a long time and possessing a keen interest in her, it came as no surprise that she would set her sights on Elsa's brother.
*Lady Goddess, please protect him. Share a bit of my good karma with my brother.*
Elsa bowed her head and murmured inwardly, desperately praying to the Goddess of Fate that, for the sake of all the good deeds and merits she had accumulated, her brother Landry would be able to handle Ursula.
Chapter 720