Chapter 202: New Ore

When Gawain saw ores being pushed over by the apprentices, he immediately determined that these ores contained a substance that was related to magic.

These were minerals with stripes that were grayish silver and had a hint of bluish purple. Under a specific angle of illumination, it would produce a metallic texture. When paying attention to the bluish-purple stripes, it would look hazy and illusory. They were distinctive characteristics of magic materials, especially magic materials with high purity and superior magic-conducting properties.

To discover brand new ores in the Dark Range that could be applied in the magic field was definitely great news, but Gawain was more worried that Nicholas Egg might have a long-term illness after being affected by such “stimulants”. “How long before you recover from your cold? Is this illness… severe among your species?”

“It is fine. There is no need to worry.” The giant silver emoji buzzed and vibrated. “I will be fine after two or three days. This is a small problem. Furthermore, as long as I don’t make direct contact with the stimulant within this period of time, I will be able to adapt to it later on and will not have the same problem.”

“…Your species is truly strange…” Gawain muttered softly before putting his attention on the ores again. After observing it, he asked the craftsman at the side, “Did Heidi study these ores?”

“Madam Heidi has already taken a sample. Her initial analysis determined that there is a great proportion of metal in the ore, so she delivered a portion of it to the Mechanical Manufacturing Facility and wanted Boss to purify it,” the craftsman reported seriously. “But we didn’t expect for Boss to fall on the ground after he touched it.”

“Alright, I shall personally look for her to find out more.” Gawain nodded and looked at Nicholas Egg who was lying on the ground. “You can have a good rest for the next two days. Since most of the extension machining beds are already online and you also have a batch of proficient workers, while the daily parts production and processing can be completed by the other facilities, you can just rest at ease. Do you have any requests for an environment to recover?”

The large metal ball merely rocked a little. “Just give me a place where I can bask in the sun. Also, pile up some metallic shards with iron and copper beside me, or the quartz sand is fine too. I can replenish my body…”

This was truly a very fitting and logical “setting”…

Gawain sighed in his heart before he rubbed his chin and looked at the large ball. “It isn’t going to be easy to shift you to a place to bask in the sun… looking at your size and weight. Wait a moment, I will look for Heidi to put a Weight Reduction spell on you…”

“Hey, no need, no need. I am not completely paralyzed, and I can still suspend myself in the air, just that I cannot float around.” Nicholas Egg buzzed and said, “Just look for someone to push me. Don’t worry, it is rather easy.”

Gawain truly had a hard time challenging his world outlook while trying to have a conversation with such a strange-looking metal-ball alien. Gawain was really trying hard not to burst out into laughter while trying to adapt to Nicholas Egg’s strange appearance and special physiology. After painstakingly holding back and twitching his mouth, he turned to look at the craftsmen and the apprentices and asked, “Which of you… will push your Boss out to bask in the sun?”

Immediately after, two sturdy and strong apprentices stood out and said, “We are willing to take care of Boss!”

Subsequently, Gawain looked at the two apprentices pushing their round Boss and rapidly rolling him out of the workshop. Behind them, all the craftsmen and apprentices were seeing them off with worried expressions. A craftsman then led his apprentice to pick out metallic shards to nourish their Boss’s body.

Gawain overheard them discussing softly:

“Does the Boss like sweet or savory things?”

“I don’t know… Do we actually have to sprinkle some seasonings on the iron and copper?”

“…Let’s just sprinkle some salt.”

“Pick the smaller ones. It should be easier to ingest.”

“Then again, where is the Boss’s mouth?”

“Why are you worried about this…?”

Gawain: “…”

Why did it seem like the apprentices and the craftsmen of the mechanical research station had spent too much time with the metal-ball alien? It seemed like their world outlook was transforming…

He shook his head and didn’t ponder about this matter anymore. After making sure there was nothing major with Nicholas Egg, Gawain ordered the other workers to return to their stations before he left the mechanical research station with Amber. They then headed for the magic laboratory that was outside the feudal lord residence where Heidi was currently at.

The feudal lord residence might have already finished construction. Heidi’s room and two other normal magic laboratories were also inside the residence, but not all magic experiments could be conducted inside the feudal lord residence. After considering the danger of magic experiments and also the uncertainty of testing new materials and spells, Heidi specially preserved the laboratory she had constructed on the territory in the beginning. She then renovated and reconstructed it to be used as a “testing center for dangerous spells and materials”.

Like the unfamiliar magic material harvested from the Dark Range which was obviously delivered to this testing center to appraise first.

Gawain and Amber arrived at the laboratory. When they were about to enter the place, there was a sudden explosion: bang!!

The explosion sounded like an extremely big firecracker getting lit. It was enough to blow a hole in the laboratory, and just hearing it from the outside was already very frightening. However, the people that were working on the spacious land in the vicinity didn’t react much. It seemed like the people that were around the vicinity were already used to this phenomenon.

Gawain was a little worried and quickly opened up the laboratory’s oaken door that was carved with defense runes. As soon as the door was opened, a burst of smoke assaulted his face. Before he could see the situation inside, he heard Heidi screaming, “Rebecca! Stand there and don’t move!!”

Accompanied by the scream, a rather delicate figure rushed out from the smoke. When Amber saw the figure, she got a shock and instinctively dodged to the side and stretched her leg out to trip. As a result, the figure fell over on all fours while letting out a short shout, “Wa!!”

Gawain conveniently reached out and caught hold of Rebecca who had nearly flattened her face and breasts. At the same time, he looked at Amber with surprise while thinking: it was still understandable for Amber to dodge to the side due to her conditioned reflexes when seeing someone rushing at her, but how could she subconsciously stretch her leg to trip the opposition? It was truly perplexing to understand how someone could be nurtured in this manner…

Rebecca had only realized what happened when Gawain grabbed her. She strenuously lifted her head, revealing her face which had been smoked into a black patch. “Wa! It is Lord Ancestor!”

Heidi had also rushed out of the smoke at this moment. “Rebecca, you— Ah, Ancestor!”

“Are the two of you okay?” Gawain looked at Heidi who also had a gray face and noticed that Heidi’s magic staff was glowing with arcane radiance. “Mm… it seems like you are fine.”

“An experimental accident?” Gawain put Rebecca down before walking into the laboratory where the smoke was dispersing. He immediately saw a large ice residual on the experiment table. The ice residual must have been the result of Heidi using a freezing spell to prevent the damage from spreading further. “Did Rebecca throw a Large Fireball on the experiment table?”

At the same time, he felt a little strange in his heart: this foolish girl might have the hobby of throwing Large Fireballs, but she shouldn’t be so reckless…

Heidi shook her head in response and said, “She didn’t throw a Large Fireball, but when she poured magic into the test sample, she actually blew up the sample! I don’t understand how she can do it?!”

“Test sample?” Gawain immediately raised his brows and said, “It is the new ore discovered in the Dark Range?”

Heidi was a little surprised. “Ancestor, you know about this too?”

“I am here because of it. Some mishap happened at the manufacturing facility. Nicholas Egg touched this new ore and couldn’t float anymore as he caught a cold, but no need to worry, it is just temporary.” Gawain gave a brief explanation for his visit and the situation at the manufacturing facility. “Afterwards, I came over here to see if there was any progress in the research.”

“Egg Egg fell sick after touching the ores? And he can’t float?” Rebecca asked with a worried expression, “Could these new ores have poison?”

“That probably isn’t the case. I used a skill similar to Danger Detection and didn’t discover any harmful substances in the ore. It should only be able to affect Nicholas Egg who is a special lifeform, and it should be harmless to humans.” Gawain shook his head and looked at Heidi. “Have you found any harmful effects originating from it?”

“No, the ores are harmless by themselves. Furthermore, they had quite good magic-conducting properties. If we can purify it, it might become a brand new type of superior magic material.” Heidi summoned a water ball to clean up her face and hair before frowning and looking at Rebecca. Without a choice, she summoned a water ball for her too and helped to wash her niece’s face while replying to Gawain’s question, “However, its magic-conducting properties are very strange… When pouring magic rapidly into it, the magic would also rapidly scatter into the air. But when pouring magic slowly into it, the ‘leaking’ phenomenon wouldn’t appear. Also, I discovered that when magic was poured into two pieces of ores at the same time, the scattered magic would actually form a kind of magic field… The property of the magic field is still undetermined, but it is very unstable.”

When pouring magic rapidly into it, the magic would also rapidly scatter into the air? When magic was poured into two pieces of ores at the same time, the scattered magic would actually form a kind of magic field?

Gawain blinked his eyes as he was rather focused on the strange traits of the brand new ore. He instinctively felt that the ore might have some special usage, and not just to be used as a magic-conducting material in the magic circle.

However, he was even more concerned about how Rebecca was able to make this material explode. “What happened when you poured your magic in and it exploded?”

Rebecca immediately shrunk her neck and said, “I don’t know. When Aunt was testing another set of samples by the side, I merely followed her instructions to pour my magic into the sample. Before I even started, it had already exploded…”

Gawain frowned. “You didn’t even start?”

Rebecca’s neck shrunk further and replied, “Yes… I didn’t even start…”

“It is unlikely that she would lie to me,” Gawain muttered. He then looked at Heidi seriously and said, “The accident should be related to a special trait of the new ore.”

“Special trait?” Amber was a dabbler in this sphere but pretended as though she could understand and asked, “What could it be?”

Gawain looked into Rebecca’s eyes and asked, “Think about it carefully. Before the explosion, were there any changes to the ore, or was something placed beside the ore?”

Rebecca immediately lowered her head and tried to recall. “Let me think… Back then, the ore seems to glow a little. Beside it… there, there seems to be a detonating rune base plate…”

Gawain, Amber, Heidi: “…”

Moments later, the trio spoke in unison, “Why would you place a detonating rune base plate at the side?!”

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