The next day, Michael was overjoyed to learn that his parents allowed him to pursue his ambition.
Of course, there were a lot of caveats with that decision. First of all, he had to make regular check-ins with his parents, but that could easily be solved through Fudge and the wooden puppet that his mother already named 'Michael Too'.
Next, he would need to make regular visits to the estate during the holidays, which Michael was okay with.
Finally, Bart and Lylia were allowed to visit him again after a year.
Michael thought this was weird because he welcomed them visiting him any time they wanted, but Bart insisted on having a one-year buffer. His father wanted to make sure that he built everything on his own without any intervention for at least one year.
Since this didn't really affect Michael much, he agreed.
They all decided that Michael would start his journey after Winter, with Spring starting about one to two months from today.
This gave enough time for Michael to prepare for the journey there.
Since it would take about a month's worth of travel to reach the Parched Lands from the Vanderbilt estate, Michael decided to create his own personalized carriage to get through the harsh journey.
When they travelled to the Vanderbilt Kingdom, Michael's greatest gripe about the journey was how uncomfortable the ride was. Whenever there was a bump in the road, the entire carriage would bob up and down, making good sleep extremely hard to achieve.
Compared to the smooth car rides in his previous life, Michael found any carriage made in this world extremely uncomfortable, even if it was the most expensive one they could purchase.
To make his month-long journey a little bit better, Michael installed a suspension system within the wheels. The bumps would only register as a small movement inside the carriage, allowing for a smooth ride.
Upon showing his new invention to his father, the man couldn't help but applaud him.
"You're right, Michael. This would make travel so much easier," Bart said, inspecting the wheels by pushing it up and down.
It would be the perfect carriage…except for one thing.
"You seem to have forgotten the most important aspect of a carriage," Bart said. "Where's the horse supposed to be attached?"
Michael's carriage had an extended front bumper, leaving no space for the horse to be positioned in. There weren't even any buckles for the rope to be attached to.
"How is this carriage supposed to move without a horse, son? Magic?" Bart asked in a joking manner.
But Michael's response to that was a simple smile and a shrug of the shoulders.
He opened the door of the carriage, leaving Bart clueless as to what his son was planning.
After a few seconds, a resounding VROOM VROOM echoed through the estate.
Bart was so surprised that he ended up jumping backwards. He almost thought there was a monster hidden inside the carriage.
"Michael? What's going on?" he asked.
But before he could go up to peek at Michael, the carriage suddenly started to move on its own!
And it wasn't just a small movement due to gravity. The wheels moved as if there was a horse pulling on the carriage.
Bart couldn't believe his eyes. If he weren't looking at it with his own eyes, he would have thought he was dreaming.
Michael's new carriage continued to move through their estate, surprising the maids and butlers at this magical carriage that had no horse.
Then, the carriage turned and looped back towards the mansion before stopping right next to Bart.
Michael opened the door to the carriage and presented himself with the biggest of smiles.
"Dad, this is my new carriage, the automobile!"
Bart slowly walked over to the carriage and tried to touch an 'invisible' horse. But no matter where he touched, there was no such animal hidden somewhere that powered the carriage's movement.
"Son…there's no magic in this carriage, right?"
Michael nodded.
"So…so how is it moving?"
To answer his question, Michael directed him to the elongated bumper in his carriage. He opened up the latch to show an engine powering the wheel's movements.
"This is what I've been working on, Dad. This is called an engine, and it can harness energy into movement…"
He started to explain the basics of an engine, and how power from the internal explosion inside allowed the wheels to move by itself.
Since he only had a month to make this, the car was very basic. It only had an accelerator, a brake, and a wheel as its features.
Michael was going to improve the automobile in the future, but for now, as long as it could move, then he was satisfied with it.
"All you needed was petroleum oil?" Bart asked, his voice starting to crack.
"Yes, Dad. As long as there's enough fuel in the engine, the carriage can continue to move indefinitely. It's fast too. We can turn a month of travelling into just a few days!"
Bart couldn't believe that such a simple and overlooked material could power something that only magic could do!
It was only now that he realized why his son was so adamant in moving to the Parched Lands. With petroleum oil, he could create so many more world-breaking inventions that everyone can use!
He could already picture a world where everyone was using his son's inventions every day!
"Honey! Honey! Look at what our son made!" Bart said, dragging Lylia to see Michael's automobile.
Once Michael introduced the car to his mother, she couldn't help but shower Michael with praise.
"Amazing!…you're so intelligent!" Lylia said, but strangely enough, she directed her compliment at Michael Too, not the human Michael.
Lylia had taken quite a liking to the wooden puppet this past month, which became a bit worrying since she would always address the puppet instead of Michael.
"Mom, I'm right here," Michael said, waving his hands in front of his mother.
"Yes, yes, you are!" Lylia said, stroking Michael Too's hair. "My son is so talented!"
Michael sighed and chose to ignore that. People tend to deal with difficult stuff in different ways. She still hasn't accepted the fact that she won't see her son for an entire year.