"Ansu..." Celia wrapped her arms around Ansu's neck, her voice filled with a lingering resentment after her embarrassment.
"Really, I promise, I won't lose control like that again!"
"Once the experiment is over, we'll have plenty of time to... to do that..."
"Do what?" Ansu blinked, teasingly leaning closer to her increasingly flushed cheeks.
"To...!" Celia's cheeks were incredibly hot; she simply buried her face in his shoulder, her voice muffled to the point of being almost unintelligible. "Ansu... time is truly precious. Can we go back and continue the experiment?"
Ansu couldn't help but chuckle; Miss Witch really was a "high attack, low defense" type.
"Hmph, alright, alright! I know time is precious."
He loosened his arms slightly and gently lowered Celia back to the ground. "Work is important, so I'll let you off for today!"
Celia's toes lightly touched the floor.
Feeling that sense of stability, she finally looked up and shot Ansu a frustrated glare. "Honestly... with such a busy workload, you actually... actually wanted to do that kind of thing!"
Wouldn't there be plenty of time after the experiment was over?
By then, hmph, he wouldn't be able to escape even if he wanted to! He would be the one begging her to let him out!
"If I hadn't done that, would you have snapped out of it?" Ansu snorted and rolled up his sleeves, showing her the marks where he had been restrained. "Look at this! If I hadn't taken special measures, would you have actually ripped my arms off?"
Celia looked at the red and swollen marks, her previous embarrassment replaced by heartache, and her tone involuntarily softened. "I'm sorry... Ansu, I really know I was wrong."
After saying that, she gently took Ansu's hand and led him to a storage shelf, searching for a potion that could quickly heal wounds.
"I'll apply some potion for you. It might sting a bit at first, but you'll recover quickly!"
Ansu shook his head. "No need for now."
He would be returning to reality soon anyway, and the injuries in the simulation would vanish.
"Then you... should take a good rest for a while," she suggested softly, putting the bottle back.
"You too, take a break." Ansu looked at the faint pink scars on her face that hadn't completely faded and her eyes, which were still a bit red. "Rest for a bit before continuing the experiment. Otherwise, overextending your mental strength like this without being in a good state will only be counterproductive."
Of course, the main reason was that he was about to reach his limit—not physically, but mentally.
Constant high-intensity simulations, recording, being blown up...
Now, just looking at those eerie blue magic structures made his head throb and buzz.
Celia followed his gaze to the glowing, half-finished 【magic formula】. After a moment of silence, she finally nodded.
"Alright, I'll listen to you. Let's rest for a while."
...
The two of them slumped onto the sofa, leaning lazily against each other to rest.
Perhaps because he had consumed so much energy, Ansu suddenly felt a wave of hunger and looked toward the kitchen.
An invisible 【Mage's Hand】 steadily brought over a plate of exquisite desserts.
Ansu picked up a light pink macaron and ate one himself. His eyes widened immediately; he was so choked by the terrifying sweetness that he had to down three glasses of water before he could catch his breath.
He glanced at Celia, who was leaning against his chest and staring blankly at the ceiling. After a thought, he picked up a light blue one and held it to her lips to see her reaction.
He watched as she took small bites, finishing the entire dessert bit by bit without changing her expression. Finally, she looked up at him with a faint look of confusion.
Ansu gave her a thumbs-up.
They leaned against each other quietly like this. Even without speaking, just listening to each other's steady breathing and heartbeats felt exceptionally cozy.
Ansu silently waited for the remaining time in the simulation while enjoying this moment of tranquility.
Just then.
Celia suddenly raised her head, looking around alertly.
"Ansu, do you feel that... something seems to be vibrating slightly?"
"Hmm?" Ansu instinctively looked toward the half-finished 【magic formula】 on the alchemy table.
"It's not that." Celia frowned, focusing her perception. "The mana fluctuations of a rune structure don't feel like this, but I definitely feel something... resonating with our magic formula... the frequency is almost identical."
Ansu's expression immediately became serious. Given Celia's sensitivity to magic, her judgment wouldn't be wrong.
He calmed his mind and tried to sense it carefully.
After a moment, he also felt it... an extremely weak mana fluctuation indeed permeated the air.
"But besides your alchemy table, what else here could cause a resonance?" Ansu looked around, remembering that they were in the 【Void Corridor】, and everything within this small space barrier was nearly static.
They exchanged a look, both seeing the confusion in the other's eyes. They stood up and followed the subtle fluctuation together.
Finally, they arrived in front of a row of bookshelves.
Stored within the 【Void Corridor】 were numerous ancient magic texts they had brought back from ancient ruins. Celia had specifically built a massive study for them.
"Over there!" Celia suddenly pointed in one direction.
Ansu followed her quickly and indeed saw a book among the shelves emitting a faint, rhythmic glow.
Celia instinctively wanted to use magic to pull it out from a distance, but for safety's sake, she stood on her tiptoes and carefully pulled the book out herself.
As Celia held the heavy ancient text, Ansu leaned in and saw the title engraved on the cover in an archaic script.
《Hoffman's Alchemy Notes》
Both of them were stunned, looks of surprise appearing on their faces.
It was quite a coincidence. On the first day they met, the book Celia had given Ansu, 《General Introduction to Magic》, was also written by Hoffman.
That line, "Magic is not a miracle, nor is it a wish-granting machine to fulfill your desires; magic is a rigorous discipline that studies the essence of the world," was from Hoffman's opening preface.
The moment he touched the book, the system immediately popped up the item information.
【Magic Item】
【Hoffman's Alchemy Notes】
【Description: A notebook used by the legendary magic master Hoffman of the Second Era to record magic experiments. Several magic runes are recorded in the book in the form of a 'cipher' to carry historical truths that are easily tampered with or destroyed.】
【Activation Conditions: Requires mana fluctuations of the same origin and resonance frequency to successfully activate the magic runes.】
"This is..." Ansu quickly scanned the information-dense description.
Historical truths that are easily tampered with or destroyed? And carried by magic runes...
It sounded more like a special storage medium, somewhat similar to a disc.
As for what form the "truth" stored inside would take... perhaps a magic projection from a thousand years ago?
However, what surprised him was that even though Celia couldn't see the system's item description, she had guessed the book's purpose quite accurately.
"The experimental ideas recorded in the book are different from the common understanding of this era... it's quite interesting, but I'm afraid the focus isn't on the content itself."
After a brief thought, she instinctively looked at Ansu and said, "This book, as a whole, should be a precision magic item..."
As Celia spoke, she suddenly looked toward the alchemy table and instantly pieced the connection together.
"I understand!" she said, her voice filled with realization and excitement. "It's the resonance frequency triggered by the magic formula we are currently constructing... it accidentally triggered some identification mechanism in this book, causing it to resonate!"
"Miss Witch is exceptionally clever," Ansu praised sincerely.
While the two of them gained this unexpected clue, they also clearly saw that the glow from the ancient text was rapidly fading, and the resonance was weakening.
Ansu stared at the book. "If you restart the experiment, you should be able to trigger the resonance of this book again."
Celia narrowed her eyes and nodded with a profound look in her gaze.
【Reality】
【Radiant Calendar 625, July 15, 20:15】
【Comment: The host seems to have discovered... something incredible?】
【Grade: D】
【Reward: 8 points】
His consciousness returned once more.
Almost instinctively, Ansu turned his gaze toward the study area.
The first thing he did after returning was still to write down the key rune adjustment parameters on a blank manuscript to help Celia's experiment.
Then, under her puzzled gaze, he headed straight for the study.
"Ansu... where are you going?"
Celia stopped her experiment and watched Ansu's hurried back, tilting her head slightly in suspicion.
Rate on N.U.
