Miss Witch's New Invention

After knocking for what felt like an eternity, Tilis slowly opened the door, wearing an apologetic expression as she looked at Luo Wei.

"You heard the explosion just now, didn't you...?" The witch gave an awkward smile. "It's nothing, don’t worry. Just a little experiment..."

Luo Wei stepped inside and silently surveyed the room. The entire space was pitch black, with nearly every piece of furniture reduced to splinters and debris scattered everywhere—so much so that there was barely any room to stand.

"This is a little experiment?" Luo Wei was stunned. Not far from him was what must have been the epicenter of the blast—a steam engine made entirely of metal had been melted into a puddle of molten iron by the intense heat...

He turned back to Tilis, scrutinizing her up and down. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine!" Tilis pointed to the only surviving piece of furniture in the room. "The moment the explosion happened, I shielded myself and the most important alchemy table with a magic barrier."

"So... what exactly were you researching?" Luo Wei had initially assumed she was trying to improve the magi-steam engine, but now it looked more like she was making a magical bomb!

Seeing Luo Wei’s probing expression, Tilis grinned. "I was just trying to increase the steam engine’s output. This was my sixth prototype. Well, numbers seven and eight are still to come..."

"There’s more?" Luo Wei couldn’t help but facepalm.

Tilis giggled. "Don’t worry! Your house is so sturdy—it’s practically the perfect lab. Research is always like this. Fail a couple more times, and success might be just around the corner~"

Luo Wei wasn’t worried about the old house. What he feared was that if Tilis kept setting off explosions like this, he’d soon be deaf.

He glanced toward the stairs, where Helena had already developed a full-blown phobia of Tilis’s "little experiments." Her wide eyes were fixed fearfully on them, but she didn’t dare come any closer.

Luo Wei sighed and looked back at Tilis. "This is already the latest model developed by the university. Headmaster Danton is extremely satisfied with it. Is it really not good enough for you?"

"No, not even close!" At the mention of the topic, Tilis’s tone grew fervent. "Even the newest model is still too weak, too sluggish! I’ve always felt that magic—this miraculous force—hasn’t been utilized to its full potential!"

"So what do you plan to do?" Luo Wei watched her silently. The witch, lost in her research, was flushed with excitement, her expression fervent and fanatical—reminding him of the same mad intensity she’d had back at the divine research facility on the island.

"Gould’s magical circuitry is already ingenious, but the energy loss is still too high in the end."

Tilis rested a finger on her smooth chin, her violet eyes gleaming thoughtfully. "So I’ve been wondering—can we optimize this further? Or maybe... do we even need this boiler anymore? Why do we have to boil water in the first place?"

Luo Wei nearly laughed. A saying suddenly came to mind—"The essence of human civilization is boiling water and throwing rocks."

After all, even in the nuclear age, we’re still just boiling water...

Tilis walked over to her alchemy table and rummaged through a few standard magic crystals. "So I want to try converting the mana inside these crystals directly into mechanical energy, skipping that clunky boiler altogether."

"But it’s not that simple, is it?" Luo Wei stepped closer, and the witch nodded with a troubled expression.

"Don’t let the explosions fool you—I’m actually close to a breakthrough." She sighed. "But even if this path succeeds, I still can’t fulfill Gould’s original vision for the Magical Industry—making it affordable and standardized..."

Luo Wei examined the tiny engravings on the magic crystal. After attending Callen University for so long, he knew what they meant. Even if Tilis succeeded, her invention would just be an unstable, one-of-a-kind masterpiece—impossible to mass-produce.

Because the so-called "standard magic crystal" in his hand was already a compromise by Gould. It was both a "magic battery" and a runestone inscribed with the most basic 0th-circle spell—"Boiling Spell."

Gould had considered countless magical formulas, but only this seemingly useless "Boiling Spell" was compatible enough. Even then, it had taken him ages to simplify and refine the spell’s structure into something more lightweight. Truly, the old headmaster was a genius.

Seeing Tilis’s dejected expression, Luo Wei patted her shoulder encouragingly.

"Keep trying. You’ll get there. When you succeed, you’ll be the great pioneer of the Second Magic Engineering Industrial Revolution. They’ll erect a fifty-meter-tall statue of you at the university gates—taller than the one of the God of Light in the Grand Cathedral."

Tilis burst into laughter and waved her hand dismissively. "I just want to make the world a little better. What use are empty titles? Besides, I’m still a wanted criminal in the Empire—what university would dare put up my statue...?"

After this conversation, Tilis finally regained her motivation and eagerly dragged Luo Wei around to show off her various research notes. The old fogeys and colleagues at the Arcane Hermitage always dismissed her work—only Luo Wei truly understood the strange and wonderful ideas in her mind.

Watching his attentive expression, Tilis’s smile grew even more content. This was what it meant to be perfectly in sync—both in thought and soul.

After chatting for so long, Luo Wei nearly forgot why he had come to see her in the first place. He finally brought up his idea of showcasing her inventions at an exhibition.

Tilis recoiled in shock, waving her hands frantically. "I haven’t succeeded yet! The prototypes are way too dangerous..."

"Right..." Luo Wei silently recalled the force of the earlier explosion. If one of her devices went off at an industrial expo, he and Tilis would probably be mistaken for assassins targeting the Emperor...

"Do you have any other, smaller inventions?" Luo Wei scanned the alchemy table curiously. "Anything presentable would work. The exhibition is just a front anyway."

"Let me think..." Tilis’s eyes darted around as she rummaged through her magic pouch.

What she pulled out next left Luo Wei utterly stunned—magic crystal cluster bombs, highly toxic alchemical potions, lethal plague toxins, soul-binding black magic puppets...

"Put those back, put them back!" Luo Wei’s face paled. "You just carry these things around the house every day?"

"Huh? What’s wrong?" The witch blinked innocently. "Relax, the pouch is perfectly safe..."

"Is there anything... slightly less hazardous?" Luo Wei said flatly. Truthfully, the military would probably go into a frenzy over her creations—but that was a terrifying thought.

"Less hazardous..." Tilis pondered for a moment before casually summoning a suit of armor-like gear. "How about this? It’s defensive."

Luo Wei was immediately captivated by the magitek automaton before him. The entire construct was forged from metal, driven by arcane engines, with exposed brass, gears, and rivets that radiated an undeniable "steampunk" aesthetic.

"Steam Knight..." Luo Wei circled it again and again, murmuring in admiration. "This is good, really good!"

"Should we exhibit this one, then?" Tilis asked.

"I think we can make it even better with some refinements." Luo Wei rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Here—and here! Mount two rapid-fire rotary guns, the rat-tat-tat kind. Huh? Why leave the back empty? Let’s add a 60mm smoothbore rapid cannon too!"

"You’re even more extreme than I am..." Tilis sighed. "This was supposed to be defensive, meant for guarding the Arcane Hermitage..."

"The best defense is a good offense!" Luo Wei grinned. "If we blast all the enemies to bits, who needs defense?"

"...Fair point." Tilis nodded slowly.

"And the design—I think it should be bigger!" Luo Wei continued, sketching a sleek, imposing silhouette on scrap paper. "Size matters! Bigger is better, and better is bigger!"

Tilis’s eyes lit up as she studied the sketch, nodding eagerly. "Bigger is better, and better is bigger!"

Luo Wei admired the bold, striking design on paper—what guy didn’t love mechs? Imagine this thing striding down the streets of Saint Callen. It’d be legendary.

"Give me some time. The structure’s simple, so we can still finish it for the exhibition..." Tilis paused, then asked, "What should we name it?"

Luo Wei smirked.

"Call it—"

"The Steam Gundam."