Chapter 134: Let Me Cook
One of the major reasons Lucius even let Villy come along was because he planned to use her Analyze magic to the absolute maximum.
If there was one thing he hated more than working, it was doing manual effort.
That was why God invented skilled subordinates, after all.
Villy stood in front of him with her head bowed, her hands folded in front of her chest.
"I’m sorry I couldn’t do it, my lord... I mean, Chief Professor." She corrected herself quickly, the tips of her ears turning red. "I’ll accept any sort of punishment from you."
Lucius stared at her blankly.
The way she said punishment made it sound way more scandalous than it should have.
He sighed and rubbed his forehead.
"You’re not at fault." He finally said, resting a hand gently on her head. "You can stand up. Just bring the rest of the items to the table."
Her head shot up, green eyes sparkling with relief. "Okay, My lo- Chief Professor!"
She scurried away toward the far end of the lab where the sealed storage units stood.
Rows of tall, reinforced cabinets gleamed under bright white light.
She wasn’t even tall enough to reach the second row so he wondered how she was going to bring them, using a ladder?
Lucius sighed as she ran off.
’Why won’t the world allow me to be lazy?’ he thought, dragging his fingers through his black hair.
He glanced down at the blueprints spread out in front of him on the main table.
Every line of the Spatial Compression Ring’s design looked clean and beautiful , but still, he hated looking at it.
"I need to make sure I do all this properly," he muttered, mostly to convince himself.
He didn’t want to be here longer than absolutely necessary.
He had better things to do... like sleep. Or maybe check out the ads he shot earlier.
He hadn’t even gotten to see them on Stitch yet.
Villy returned a few minutes later, her arms full of the items that were needed.
She looked so small carrying everything, like a mule in a white dress.
"Chief Professor, I’ve brought everything you need," she said proudly, even though she was panting a little.
Lucius looked down at her, then at the table full of glowing materials.
He reached out and gently patted her head. "Thanks."
He flicked his fingers, and immediately, the blueprints lifted off the table, hovering midair.
The materials followed...Celestine Quartz, Silver Alloy bars, a B-rank Mana Core, Stabilizing Stone powder, all orbiting him like obedient satellites.
"Do you know what machine I can use as a furnace?" he asked, watching the items spin lazily in space.
Villy perked up instantly. "Right... follow me, Chief Professor!"
She turned and dashed toward the next chamber, her braid swaying behind her.
Lucius followed at a leisurely pace, hands tucked into the pockets of his long white coat.
He had to admit, her Analyze magic really was a cheat skill.
She could simulate temperatures, mana fluctuations, and forging conditions in her mind with terrifying accuracy.
Maybe space could do the same thing, but he wasn’t about to spend a long time perfecting such a spell.
He was a genius, not a masochist.
Besides, why struggle when you could let someone else handle the work?
They soon stepped into a smaller chamber at the far end of the lab.
The air immediately felt heavier... this was a heat containment room.
The floor and walls were made of heatproof black metal, and in the center stood a massive cylindrical device embedded in the ground.
Lucius tilted his head, squinting at it. "Care to explain?"
Villy adjusted her gloves, stepping beside it like a proud engineer.
"Chief Professor, this is the Solar-Core Mana Furnace. It’s designed to heat materials using compressed mana flames generated by converted solar energy. The inner chamber can reach over twenty thousand degrees Celsius."
Lucius blinked once. "Twenty thousand degrees?"
"Yes, Chief Professor. That’s hot enough to melt reinforced steel and even mythril if given enough time." She looked pleased with herself. "It’s perfect for heating Silver Alloy, since that metal requires extremely high temperatures to become pliable."
Lucius folded his arms. "Perfect, huh? Alright. Fire it up, apprentice."
"Yes, Chief Professor!"
She turned toward the control panel beside the furnace.
Her small fingers tapped at the buttons embedded in the interface, and the machine came alive with a deep vibration.
A dull orange glow filled the room as the machine began to heat up...
Lucius leaned against the wall lazily. "It probably won’t even be that ho—"
WHOOSH!
The entire room lit up in a blinding flash of red-orange as the flames burst forth inside the furnace.
The heat wave slammed into his face like a divine slap from the sun itself.
Lucius froze, eyes wide behind his goggles. "... ly mother of—"
"Chief Professor, the Silver Alloy!" Villy called out, shouting over the roar of the flames.
Lucius turned to the side where the materials were floating... the three pristine bars of Silver Alloy, each weighing exactly one kilogram.
They glowed under the furnace’s violent glow like moonlight.
He glanced at them, then back at Villy.
"I’m supposed to throw those in, right?"
Villy blinked at him, deadpan. "Chief Professor... didn’t you design the blueprints yourself?"
He coughed into his fist. "Of course I did. I was just... testing you. To make sure you remembered."
She didn’t believe that for a second, but she said nothing.
Lucius snapped his fingers, and the three silver bars levitated into the air.
They spun slowly, reflecting streaks of orange light across the walls.
"Alright, let’s get this started," he muttered.
He guided the metal bars toward the furnace opening.
The heat radiating from it was ridiculous... enough to make the air ripple visibly.
Even with a thin spatial barrier around him, he could still feel the scorching temperature kiss his skin.
"Go on," he said, flicking his wrist.
The bars shot forward in unison, disappearing into the heart of the fire.
The chamber rumbled as the metal hit the inner flames, sparks bursting out like miniature comets.
The molten glow intensified, painting Lucius’s goggles with reflected light.
Villy stood back, shielding her face with her arms. "It’s working, Chief Professor!"
Lucius adjusted his goggles slightly and smirked. "Let me cook."
This was the easy part... the next thing Lucius had to do was make sure the Silver Alloy could actually take the shape of a ring.
He floated closer to the furnace, feeling the pressure of the heat against his face.
He peered into the furnace, watching the silver slowly begin to bend, distort, and finally... melt.
’The fuck? I feel like it’s getting hotter by the minute,’ he thought, sweat already forming on his brow despite the spatial barrier he was in.
At this rate he would have to make it stronger.
Even his coat sleeves were starting to feel warm.
He glanced over at Villy, who was standing just a few meters away, perfectly calm.
"Villy, are you okay?" he asked.
The dwarf gave him a thumbs-up with her usual enthusiasm.
He blinked.
When had she managed to change into a full-body heat-resistant suit, complete with gloves and a mask?
’Where the hell did she get that from?’
The thought barely finished forming when he turned back toward the fire.
Inside the blazing core, the silver bars were melting completely now... shifting and swirling like a pool of liquid light.
Watching pure silver turn to molten metal was mesmerizing.
The surface rippled like mercury glowing with pale brilliance.
It was hard not to appreciate how beautiful it looked, even though he was sweating bullets.
Lucius flicked his eyes toward the floating blueprints hovering to his left, the papers shielded by a thin spatial shield to keep them from burning.
"Ooh, I’m supposed to turn them into a ring shape now," he murmured, more to himself than to anyone else.
He lifted his right palm, and space responded instantly.
The molten silver began to rise out of the furnace in a graceful arc, drops of liquid metal hovering in the air as if gravity had stopped existing.
The glowing mass spun slowly, twisting and folding into itself as he guided it with delicate precision.
Within seconds, the liquid began forming a perfect circular outline.
He spread his palm wider, compressing the shape and sealing it within a spatial field.
The ring floated in midair... still glowing orange from the heat but the field began cooling it rapidly.
The great thing about space was that it ignored basic physics.
There was no need to worry about air bubbles, pressure, or structural flaws.
The compression field distributed density evenly, making the ring flawless down to the microscopic level.
Behind him, the furnace continued to roar, but the work was already done.
He waved his hand lazily. "You can turn off the furnace now," he said.
"Yes, Chief Professor!" Villy ran to the control panel and began pressing the shutdown sequence.
The air cooled instantly.
Lucius exhaled, feeling the relief wash over him.
His barrier shimmered and vanished.
He turned his gaze toward the next component floating in the air beside him... the Celestine Quartz, a small crystalline shard that pulsed softly with a bluish glow.
He motioned for it to come closer, and it drifted obediently to his side.
"You next," he said with a slight grin.
He focused on the inner lining of the silver ring as the crystal hovered above it.
With a subtle gesture, he pushed the quartz forward through the air.
It shot ahead like a streak of light and embedded itself perfectly into the molten silver’s heart.
For a moment, nothing happened... then the crystal released a blinding glow that filled the entire room with radiance, forcing both Lucius and Villy to shield their eyes.