"We’ll et tonight, don’t forget to gather information."
"Okay, stay safe."
"..."
Ronald and Bapulor rested in the room for half the day, during which they did not engage in any further conversation.
It wasn’t until the day of departure that they briefly exchanged words of care.
After saying goodbye to the heretic Magician, Ronald once again made his way alone to the location of the Astronomical departnt.
All around him were apprentice Wizards of the Barrier Mountain.
The place was not difficult to find.
Having asked for directions, Ronald navigated through the complex mountain city. After spending just over an hour, he arrived at the location of the Astronomical departnt before noon.
Due to the influence of the subject matter,
the location of the Astronomical departnt was considerably high; apart from the mountain’s peak where the Council of Six, linked to the Well of Judgnt, resided, this was the highest exposed building of the Barrier Mountain.
Stepping out from a side door with a similar architectural style to a watchtower,
Ronald this ti did not see the kind of expansive platform.
There was just a lonely arch bridge hanging off the side of the mountain, leading to the only solitary tower a hundred ters away.
This tower, belonging to the Astronomical departnt, was primarily black with silver patterns accenting it. Compared to the tower of the Prophecy departnt, its cross-sectional area was clearly more than twice as wide, and the Magic Fluctuations it contained were powerful and unmasked.
And if there was anything most attractive about this Magic tower...
it was definitely the top of the tower.
A huge instrunt embedded with nurous star molds was placed there, continuously rotating according to certain patterns. At the sa ti, the orbits and speeds of these star molds also varied.
Ronald could tell it was similar to an astronomical device.
But with the enhancent of Magic Power, the utility of this contraption was hard to estimate.
Ronald paused and observed for half a minute.
During this ti, he did not see anyone coming in or out of the Astronomical departnt’s tower.
Compared to the other departnts he had seen on the way, this place was decidedly deserted.
"..."
Scratching his head, Ronald finally moved forward.
As he got closer, more details of the Magic tower revealed themselves. The silver patterns that spread across the surface of the tower were, upon closer inspection, made of so tallic substance.
With Ronald’s exceptional vision,
he could even vaguely make out even finer patterns within.
Ronald raised an eyebrow, then reached out to knock on the door.
Creak—
The grating sound of hinges echoed from the edge of the doorfra.
The tower of the Astronomical departnt was not locked; a gentle push from outside, and it would obediently open.
Shaking his head as he entered the tower, Ronald couldn’t help but remark,
"Is managent really this lax..."
As he walked into the interior of the tower.
The first floor, aside from the staircase leading upward, was a simple circular plaza, guarded by a few magic golems fashioned out of tal and shaped in human likeness.
When Ronald appeared, these golems rely sized him up,
showing no other actions.
Had Catherine logged her identity into these guardian golems?
With this thought, Ronald ascended the stairs.
Starting from the second floor, the tower of the Astronomical departnt finally began to resemble a Magic tower.
Floors designated for storing books, for conducting experints, for housing special items...
These essential facilities appeared one by one, but overall, there were very few people.
Even now, as noon approached, there were people who seed carelessly asleep within the Magic Tower, with an experintal table just standing there, giving one the sense that the place might be a bit dangerous.
The location was now over two-thirds up the tower.
The situation changed once again.
From this floor upward, several consecutive floors were enclosed by steel walls, with the doors so tightly locked that it was impossible to see inside.
"..."
This was a situation unique to the Astronomy Departnt.
Or is it... that all the floors of the Magic Towers are like this?
Ronald’s expression was sowhat nuanced, but as soon as he passed these steel-enclosed floors, he saw the red-haired Catherine almost imdiately.
On this exceedingly high floor, the head of the Astronomy Departnt had transford three whole floors of the Magic Tower into her living quarters. When Ronald ca up, Catherine was busy preparing lunch in the open kitchen.
With Ronald’s sense of sll...
He could even sll that this woman was frying eggs.
"Yo, Drake, you’re here."
Catherine noticed Ronald as expected.
However, she didn’t turn around and continued attending to the lunch while inviting Ronald with her back to him, "You can sit down and rest for a bit, I am actually preparing lunch, and you could try so too."
Ronald didn’t hesitate to decline:
"I’m not hungry..."
"But you haven’t eaten anything, right? There’s no need to be formal with since we’re all part of the Astronomy Departnt."
Catherine interrupted Ronald’s refusal without turning around, directly exposing the fact that Ronald hadn’t eaten lunch yet.
How did Catherine know this?
Was this person monitoring him?
A series of questions quickly flashed through Ronald’s mind.
But since entering Barrier Mountain, he had been carefully on guard about what was happening around him. Under his own vigilance and Bapulor’s assurance, it was unlikely that they were being monitored.
Watching Catherine’s busy figure in the kitchen.
Ronald confird once again that she was not an easy wizard to deal with.
Bowing his head slightly, he complied with Catherine’s invitation and left the spiral staircase to enter the floor.
After he sat down in the similarly semi-open living room, Ronald imdiately noticed sothing on the table in front of him.
— This was an unfinished manuscript.
— The handwriting was neat, but there were many erasures and corrections.
Was it written by Catherine?
Ronald glanced at Catherine with so interest.
The person still cooking didn’t care about Ronald’s movent and was only focused on the ingredients in front of her.
So, Ronald unceremoniously picked up the manuscript in front of him.
His fingers habitually resting below the text.
[Civilization’s developnt will bring certain (crossed out), will bring a highly exaggerated demand for materials. At the sa ti, the population growth rate will also surge during the developnt process. Even with the power of wizards, it is difficult to cope with this upward trend...]
"..."
Ronald raised an eyebrow at the content and continued to turn the pages.
[Regarding this issue, necessary strategies to resolve this phenonon are required.
— Consolidate resources, enslave ordinary people without spellcasting abilities (crossed out)
— Widely spread spell knowledge, essentially enhancing group productivity?
This thod could solve the production problem for a short ti (crossed out), it could solve it for a very long ti, but the world’s own resource limitations still exist, and later control inevitably has to be adjusted through population control...]
After reading another segnt.
Ronald was about to turn the page when he heard Catherine’s footsteps approaching from the front:
"Yo, Drake."
"Are you interested in what I’ve written?"
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