Standing before Emperor Rosetta Augustus were the president of the Royal Mage Association, the Legendary Mage Lady Windsor Maple, and currently the president of the Imperial Construction Association, Arcane Master Daniel.

They are the empire’s finest scholars and technical talents, the royal family’s most trusted advisors in the extraordinary and industrial fields, and the left and right arms of Emperor Rosetta Augustus himself.

The news of the Courage’s departure from Mobius Port was known by very few within the Empire. The ship is the crystallization of the most advanced technology in Typhon, and its related information is naturally kept confidential. However, those who can stand in this room are clearly not subject to secrecy regulations. Upon hearing Rosetta’s words, Windsor was the first to smile, "This is indeed good news."

Daniel then asked with some curiosity, "Is the Courage still at Tasos Island now?"

"It is still at Tasos Island, but will return today," Rosetta said unhurriedly, knowing what Daniel was curious about, "The news was sent back through a magical communication spell—Mobius Port has the most powerful communication Tower on the East Coast, and on that ship... a small communication array personally improved by Lady Windsor Maple is installed."

Daniel paused for a moment, then looked at Windsor Maple with an indifferent expression as usual and nodded his head, "A good result."

"Thank you for your praise," Windsor immediately said, "It’s just some modifications to traditional spells, not a breakthrough creation."

"But it is a fruitful modification," Rosetta Augustus said, "It proves that the Eternal Sleepers’ technology in communication is extremely useful. The distance between Tasos Island and Mobius Port is not a short one, and old communication towers could not complete communication over such a distance. However, the improved communication array is not very stable yet—the Courage successfully reached Tasos Island several days ago, but communication has been continuously disturbed by the ocean’s magic-pervasive environment, and it was not until today that the information was successfully sent back."

"This is the problem we need to solve in the next stage," Windsor Maple immediately said, "It’s only been a short time since we acquired the technology of the Eternal Sleepers, and our improvements to communication spells have just started. Many times, we even simply and crudely applied their ideas to our communication technology. There is still much room for optimization. In the future, both in terms of efficiency and cost, our communication technology will definitely see greater improvement."

Rosetta Augustus glanced at the Legendary Mage, showing a slight smile, "I have always had faith in your ability, my lady."

...

The corridor from the Obsidian Palace to the Royal Library is long, requiring hundreds of steps, and it has always been very quiet.

Only a few people are qualified to walk here.

Daniel and Windsor Maple walked down this long corridor, with royal guards occasionally visible along the sides. The footsteps of the two mages were light, making the empty corridor appear even more desolate and silent.

The first to break the silence was Windsor Maple. She slightly turned her head, looking at her former mentor walking beside her, "Mentor, I still remember when you first took me down this corridor—you said it was a great honor for a mage to be able to access the Royal Library from here..."

Daniel’s expression did not change. He simply responded calmly, "A few years after that, you were qualified to freely move in this area as a Legendary Mage."

Windsor Maple instinctively opened her mouth, "Mentor, I..."

"No, I don’t blame you," Daniel’s steps paused slightly. He glanced at his former apprentice, his gaze was calm, "I am merely stating that your talent is truly remarkable. That talent belongs to you, and we should all accept this fact."

Windsor looked into her mentor’s calm eyes and suddenly felt a sense of peace in her heart.

She had not seen her mentor so calm for many years.

What was the mentor like in the past years? Resistance, boredom, frustration, anger, hysteria... Ever since he tried some terrifying methods years ago to overcome his talent bottleneck and failed, the once gentle and wise elder seemed to become a different person, growing farther and farther away from her. In the end, he even voluntarily left the Royal Mage Association, choosing to live in seclusion in remote areas. Many years later, when this elder returned to the imperial capital, his attitude toward her remained cold and distant—the gap from years past showed no signs of melting away. Windsor Maple even felt that such estrangement might never disappear.

Once close master and apprentice had turned into strangers.

However, the emperor’s series of plans forced this estranged mentor and apprentice to meet frequently again—whether they liked it or not, as the empire’s two most outstanding talents, they were destined to meet here often, working together, engaging in communication, debates, and mutual assistance due to their contact within the technical and knowledge fields.

"Actually, I’m really grateful for this opportunity," Windsor Maple smiled, saying with emotion, "His Majesty’s task has brought us back ’on track’. I think you have already proven what you wanted to prove many years ago—that human talent is not limited to extraordinary power alone. Your talent in the Magic Guide Technology field is also ’legendary’."

In Windsor Maple’s view, Daniel’s current calmness must be inseparable from the development of Magic Guide Technology—the resolute elder proved himself in a new field, and this kind of "proof" was enough to resolve his inner conflict. Once the inner conflict was resolved, the kind mentor gradually returned.

Daniel simply quietly looked at Windsor.

A powerful Legendary Mage, outstanding talent, elevated status. But this did not mean she had any ability to discern people’s hearts.

This was fine.

"No need to flatter, you know I don’t like flattery," Daniel shook his head, speaking indifferently, "In fact, those who are talented in the magic field often have equal talent in the field of Magic Guide Technology—mathematical and magic sciences have always been interconnected in many areas. Your improvements to communication spells prove your abilities in this regard. To quickly understand the technology of the Eternal Sleepers is not something ordinary people can accomplish."

"Thank you for the praise," Windsor smiled, but then frowned, seriously stating, "But I’ve also encountered many difficulties... The Eternal Sleepers’ magic symbol system stems from Divine Arts, yet there is an energy conflict between communication spells and Divine Arts. Currently, I’m trying to drive both sets of magic symbols with pure arcane magic, which causes the entire system’s stability to be very low, and reverse flow and meltdown can easily occur... I suspect the Cecil Clan must have solved this obstacle to confidently apply the Eternal Sleepers’ magic symbols to those ’Magic Web Terminals’, and lately, I’ve been searching through samples of the Magic Web Terminal for this critical conversion structure..."

She spoke seriously and meticulously about the challenges encountered when dealing with entirely new knowledge, just as she did years ago as an apprentice discussing difficult problems with her mentor. But she soon realized Daniel did not respond to her. The elder simply stood quietly beside her, looking with an unusually calm gaze, making her couldn’t help but feel puzzled, "Mentor?" 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"I am listening, but I have no good advice," Daniel slowly shook his head, his gaze remaining on Windsor Maple. After a brief two seconds of silence, he softly sighed, saying, "You are indeed very talented..."

"I’m glad you’re willing to listen to me ramble on about these issues—I know they’re dull and not part of your job," Windsor smiled slightly, then took a half-step back, "I have to step ahead—I have an appointment with Prince Hadrian in half an hour."

Daniel simply nodded, "Yes, go ahead."

Windsor Maple left, leaving Daniel alone in the long and empty corridor.

He gazed towards the direction his former apprentice left, softly sighing in a way that no one could perceive.

"Windsor... your talent truly is remarkable..."

Two seconds later, the old mage shook his head and continued walking forward steadily.

He felt no jealousy and never disliked any of his apprentices.

Yet at this moment, the capability Windsor Maple demonstrated made him sense a slight "danger".

However, he ultimately decided to do nothing.

This wasn’t because of Windsor Maple’s status as a Legendary Mage; in fact, he knew Windsor Maple was completely defenseless against him, and by leveraging his secret advantages, he could easily disrupt the Royal Mage Association’s research projects without making any direct contact, or at least significantly hinder or delay their progress.

But there are many talented people in this world, and in the powerful Typhon, there are more people like "Windsor Maple"; there have been many before, and there will be many more in the future.

The Master once said that He doesn’t mind Typhon’s development; He even welcomes the prosperity of other realms of mortals—because He will ensure Cecil is always the strongest among all the nations.

Based on this premise, the Master does not advocate hindering the technological advancements of Typhon—because every technological advancement, whether Typhon’s or Cecil’s, is the common wealth of mortals.

He used to not understand the Master’s grand vision, merely executing orders mechanically in this regard, but after personally participating in the construction of the magical industry and witnessing the changes in Typhon and Cecil, he feels he can vaguely grasp the Master’s idea of a "mortal community".

He took a deep breath and showed a hint of a smile.

Windsor Maple’s talent is hers, and as her mentor... he should be happy.

...

Matilda Augustus sat on the small sofa by the window, sunlight slanting through, illuminating the crystal ornaments and the "Cecil Cube" on the table.

She turned the pages in her hand and tucked back the hair hanging beside her ear. It was then that footsteps approached from not far away, and she raised her gaze from the book to look towards the doorway.

Young Prince Hadrian was entering the room.

"Hadrian," Matilda nodded, "Weren’t you supposed to be meeting with Lady Windsor Maple at this time?"

"In half an hour, sister," Hadrian said casually, "What are you reading?"

"A gift that arrived this morning by international mail," Matilda raised the heavy book in her hand and gestured toward the table not far away—a neatly packed large collection of books lay in a finely crafted wooden box, clearly a vast compilation, "The Fundamentals of Everything, this incredible masterpiece is finally completed, the Emperor of Cecil graciously sent me a signed edition, I’m reading the sociology volume now and find it quite enlightening."

"That ’Encyclopedia of Everything’ from the Cecil Clan?" Young Prince Hadrian muttered, casually reaching for the book box as he sat opposite Matilda, "Speaking of Cecil... haven’t you noticed there’s been more and more stuff coming from Cecil lately? Their magazines, their newspapers, and their toys... When I was in the city, I saw merchants’ children playing with a magic symbol cube; they were all excitedly shouting about the ’Cecil Cube’, it seems owning a ’Cecil Cube’ among the children is quite a matter of pride."

"That proves their parents have substantial economic resources, and it also proves the children themselves have ample intelligence to figure out how the cube works," Matilda gave Hadrian a glance, "Be careful with the pages—that book you just picked up, I haven’t opened it yet."

Hadrian immediately placed the Agricultural Volume back into the book box, "Then I just won’t look at it."

Matilda’s attention, however, was already drawn to her brother. She looked into Hadrian’s eyes and seemingly in a casual tone asked, "Speaking of gifts... you’ve had the gift I brought you from Cecil for over a month now and haven’t made any comments yet."

"Ah—my goodness," Hadrian’s expression immediately turned peculiar; he gave Matilda a pained look, "Sometimes I really wonder if you’re purposely teasing me... Can’t you give me a genuine, normal gift..."

"I believe books are the most conventional gifts, especially those brimming with knowledge and offering inspiration," Matilda immediately replied earnestly, "Hadrian, you’ve always been lax in your studies—that’s why you have a legendary mage like Lady Windsor Maple teaching you personally, yet still..."

"Hold on, hold on, I broke through to powerful last month, so your lectures in this area are no longer necessary," Hadrian quickly raised his hand and shook his head, "And I acknowledge that books indeed make fine gifts—but don’t you think twelve volumes of mathematics and mechanical literature along with a hundred eighty-seven sets of papers are a bit excessive?"

Matilda quietly watched her brother for two seconds before nodding with a serious expression, "Those are Cecil’s specialties."

"...This is dreadful," Hadrian spread his hands helplessly, "That’s why I say, there’s genuinely too much ’Cecil’ around here now..."