Night fell.
At the airship station in the North District of Hope County.
As the wealthiest district in all of Hope County, the lighting system here was of the highest standard.
Lining both sides of the smooth, wide roads were not the common gaslights found in the commoner districts.
Instead, hanging from the tops of the lampposts were specialized oil lamps fueled by whale oil.
The manufacturing process for these lamps was incredibly complex, featuring specialized miniature fire-control valves inside.
They burned with astonishing brightness, their light-penetrating power far exceeding that of ordinary gaslights.
The expensive whale oil was stored in independent, sealed iron canisters beside the lampposts.
Special maintenance workers patrolled and replaced them regularly every day—an incredibly extravagant consumption.
At this moment, Charlotte was tightly gripping the handle of a heavy cowhide suitcase, helping her beloved teacher, Ms. Cecil, carry it.
Because they had walked in quite a rush, a few beads of sweat dotted the red-haired girl's forehead.
She now had a peculiar illusion.
Ever since she became a transcendent, she seemed to be turning into a woman of monstrous strength in the eyes of those around her.
When handling heavy physical labor, she no longer felt any of the strain a normal woman would.
Based on the basic mysticism she had recently learned in class,
she knew very well that the mystic pathway she had chosen was, by nature, not one that relied on close-quarters physical combat.
Yet, even for a spellcasting pathway that did not prioritize the physical body, the physical enhancement at a low Scale could actually bring her to this level.
This made Charlotte completely unable to imagine just how terrifying the physical fitness and bone density of those who followed pathways specialized in physical enhancement—like the "Knight of Combat" of the Dragon of Eternity pathway—could be.
They were probably pure human-shaped beasts.
However,
what shocked Charlotte the most at this moment was not the changes in her own body,
but the colossal beast moored in the center of the massive steel scaffolding.
She found it incredibly novel.
It was the newest model of royal airship.
Its massive gasbag was stitched together from multiple layers of rubberized fabric, with a streamlined, black-painted wooden gondola suspended beneath.
In Charlotte's past understanding, the only things capable of flying freely in the sky were birds, bats, and certain insects.
A few days ago, when she learned that powerful transcendents of a high Scale could also fly into the sky, it had already shattered her worldview.
But today,
seeing this airship with her own eyes made her truly realize that the kingdom's mundane technology had actually reached such heights.
Even ordinary people who possessed no supernatural power could actually rely on such purely mechanical transport to fly high into the sky.
Everything she had come into contact with at the Seventh Agency branch during this period had far exceeded the shock of her entire past decade or so combined.
The airship's steam exhaust valve let out a low rumble, and white steam billowed out under the illumination of the whale oil lamps.
“Ms. Cecil, are you absolutely sure you won't take me along?”
Charlotte turned around and looked at Cecil beside her, asking once more, unwilling to give up.
Her tone was filled with eagerness.
Yesterday afternoon, when she had accidentally learned that Ms. Cecil was preparing to set off overnight for Hastings Port, where the situation was deteriorating rapidly, the red-haired girl had been itching to go along.
But Ms. Cecil had quickly doused her enthusiasm with a splash of cold water.
Whenever Charlotte recalled the reasons Ms. Cecil had given in her office yesterday, she couldn't help but feel a bit unwilling to accept it.
“Lottie, as your teacher, I think I must remind you of something very seriously.”
“Your spell manipulation and model construction are still in an unstable stage.”
“The potion in your body has not been fully digested either. What you need right now is to settle down.”
“Besides that, you must be clear on one thing.”
“The current situation in Hastings Port is extremely dangerous.”
“Extremely dangerous.”
“I can certainly understand your desire to help.”
“I'm sure your brother would be very happy to hear it, too.”
“But before you can truly take responsibility for your own safety, neither I nor your brother want to see any accidents happen to you.”
“Furthermore, do not forget your current task. You must remain at the Hope County branch to complete your subsequent systematic training.”
Charlotte still clearly remembered that after Ms. Cecil finished speaking, the severity in her eyes instantly vanished.
In its place was a doting tenderness.
A fair hand gently ruffled her red hair.
“But promise me, if you encounter any abnormal danger during your training at the branch, you must prioritize your own safety, all right?”
Faced with such a look from her teacher, Charlotte had no choice but to submissively bow her head and concede yesterday.
Yet, now that they had reached the boarding gate and she was looking at the airship about to take off, she couldn't help but want to check one more time.
Perhaps some special situation had arisen at the front line, and they needed to send reinforcements.
However,
Ms. Cecil clearly had no intention of changing her mind.
“No, Lottie.”
Cecil stopped in her tracks, turned around to look at her student, and shook her head gently.
“I hope that before I return from Hastings Port, you will be able to use spells proficiently, learn how to safely scribe Scale One rune scrolls, and brew basic secret medicines.”
“That is what you should be focusing on right now.”
“Do we have a deal?”
Looking at Ms. Cecil, who was gentle yet firm, Charlotte's shoulders slumped.
The disappointment in her eyes was obvious.
Ultimately, she could only let out a helpless sigh and nod.
“All right...”
Their farewell was very brief.
Ms. Cecil reached out to take the heavy leather suitcase from Charlotte's hand.
Turning around, she showed her exclusive special envoy identification badge and walked up to the airship along the channel reserved for officials.
Standing on the steps of the airship's hatch, Cecil turned around and waved with a smile to Charlotte below.
After receiving the red-haired girl's response, she stepped into the enclosed VIP cabin.
The hatch slowly closed.
Cecil walked along the carpeted floor to her designated seat, securing her suitcase in the latch beside it.
The moment she finally sat down,
the gentleness and smile on her face vanished in an instant.
In their place was an unprecedented gravity.
Just moments ago, inside the carriage,
she had been stunned upon receiving a secret letter from Xia'an Dainfield.
Because Xia'an had not used the Seventh Agency's standard reporting channels.
The young girl of the Dainfield family had instead used her family's spirit world messenger—the Daycrow.
Deploying a spirit world messenger of this level meant that ordinary spirit world couriers were no longer safe in Xia'an's eyes.
And the message written on the paper had indeed vastly exceeded Cecil's expectations.
Thomas Wayland was using the large-scale sea-folk invasion to create panic, secretly plotting to secure the firing clearance for the military's flagship, the Octowin.
That warship was equipped with a super naval gun boasting destructive strategic power comparable to Scale Seven.
Once Wayland succeeded, the resulting political disaster and supernatural loss of control would be completely unimaginable.
Wayland was gambling with the lives of the entire port's civilians against the Council.
The situation was critical.
Thus, Cecil had reacted immediately after reading the letter.
She did not dare delay even for a second.
First, utilizing her authority as a special envoy, she sent two urgent, confidential dispatches to simultaneously warn Prince Edric in Landon and the Director-General of the Seventh Agency.
This was to freeze the approval process for the firing clearance at the highest administrative level.
But this was not foolproof.
So afterward, she sent another private letter that bypassed official records.
The recipient's true name on that letter pointed directly to her own teacher—
a retired mystic.
The steam pistons at the bottom of the airship began to churn.
The massive mooring ropes were untied by ground crew, and the heavy gondola detached from the ground, beginning to rise slowly.
Its altitude steadily climbed.
Outside the window, the whale oil lampposts gradually shrank.
Just as the airship finished ascending and entered a stable flight path,
inside the VIP cabin,
the air around Cecil suddenly fluctuated violently.
The local spatial pressure abruptly lost balance.
The silver bracelet she wore on her left wrist, used to conceal her supernatural fluctuations, floated into midair without warning.
The rune gems on the bracelet flashed frantically.
Immediately after,
a brilliant silver light flared inside the cramped VIP cabin.
The intense light was blinding.
When the light vanished half a second later,
a bearded old man wearing a robe was sitting in the empty seat opposite Cecil.
The old man leaned back against the seat familiarly.
He looked at Cecil with a beaming smile.
“Oh, my dear student, you finally remembered your elderly teacher!”
The old man grumbled as he cast a disdainful look around the cramped interior.
Finally,
his gaze landed on the porthole beside them.
Watching the ground structures outside turn into tiny pinpricks of light as the airship pulled further and further away from the ground,
the old man rolled his eyes.
“Why go through all this trouble?”
“If you'd said something earlier, I could have just flown you there!”
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