Even though Arcane Arsenal was considered a magic array, it was quite simple to draw because it only contained three runes—Perpetual, Unity, and Mana Cache. What was more, Angor already knew how to draw the first one.
It took him two days to plan and pre-process the necessary materials, then another day to craft the “launcher” itself.
At first, he was planning to make a helmet piece that he saw from some of the sci-fi fictions. Later on, he changed his mind and designed a pair of glasses instead because he could conserve a lot of materials in this way.
It could be even simpler. The final outcome was a plain-looking monocle that many accessory stores would sell.
As for its name, the “Dream Wasteland Launcher” sounded good enough.
Narda’s Vision suggested that the item fell into the rank of low-tier items, just below the standard of mid-tier.
The effect of the magic array came out just fine. Using the energy stored inside the magic array, it could unleash Dream Enkindle against its user. It had a total of 979 charges when fully powered.
Angor triggered the magic array and entered the dream wasteland without trouble.
It seemed Freud did an amazing job overhauling the buildings using different materials and dyes he collected recently. As a former nobleman from the Central Empire, Freud deftly recreated the style of his home city onto these otherwise disagreeing structures, after the original planner made a huge mess out of them.
While admiring the brilliant place, Angor heard Sunny’s singing voice coming from a mushroom-domed house nearby. Compared to when she was haunting the orphanage, she sounded less creepy and more lovely now.
Following her start, Alda also joined the chorus by presenting a traditional children’s rhyme popular in the Central Empire. The little boy wasn’t so good at singing as Sunny, but he sounded just as pure and innocuous.
“You’ve grown a lot better at this, Sunny!” Freud applauded in the house. “And Alda? Try to pick something lower next time. You sounded like a duck quacking in the morning.”
Sunny giggled at the compliment while Alda protested. Nevertheless, the three of them were enjoying their moment.
It somewhat reminded Angor of his childhood, when he would also have such fun with Leon and the servants in the house.
When Angor moved to knock on the door, Freud answered him immediately since there wasn’t anyone else who would visit them in the dream wasteland.
“Sir!” Freud saluted, while Sunny and Alda looked their way curiously.
Inside the dream wasteland, the souls of Alda and Sunny almost appeared as real human beings. Angor was sure that, if anyone else who couldn’t use their spells came here and saw the children, they wouldn’t tell that Alda and Sunny were departed souls.
He patted Alda’s head when he saw the little boy giving him an adorable look he couldn’t reject. As for Sunny, he chose to keep his distance just to be polite and considerate.
“Nice decoration around here.” He praised Freud’s work before saying, “I found a solution for bringing people here from afar.”
He explained how to use the “dream launcher” to Freud.
“There are restrictions, but nothing we can’t handle. We’ll rely on this thing for now until I find something better. By the way, I made this one for you. You may stay at Freighting Town and enter the dream wasteland as you like. I need to go home and check on my teacher.”
“But I can always go with you, sir.”
“No, you stay here. Sunny and Alda need you, right? We also need to see if the launcher still works when I travel far. If you can use it when I’m all the way at the Old Earth, we can say that our distance doesn’t matter.”
Freud nodded. If what Angor expected was true, they didn’t need to travel together to talk to each other.
“You can also bring others here as you see fit. However, they must accept a non-disclosure agreement so that they don’t go and babble our research to everyone.”
“Can I use this launcher to see if I can keep the consciousness of the dead in the dream wasteland?”
“By all means. Just make sure you don’t exhaust the charges too fast.”
After giving Freud the monocle and telling him how to properly use it, Angor bid farewell and left on his Gondola.
At the edge of Freighting Town, he saw Neya heading to the abandoned orphanage with another group of new recruits.
“Welp. Freud’s going to get busy again.”
The other reason he told Freud to stay was that they had to keep the “testing ground” running since Freud already agreed to several wizard organizations regarding this facility.
Again, Angor and Toby took turns to use gravity power to speed up the boat. It only took them two days to reach the coast of the Old Earth.
It appeared the war between Goldspink and Heylan was settling down. He saw way fewer refugees on his way back.
The first thing he noticed upon arriving at Padt Manor was the extremely mind-soothing air in the area. It was the middle of summer right now, yet the territory of the manor did not have that moist and boiling sense at all. The breezy environment was full of the mild energy of life that would undoubtedly succor anyone who was fortunate enough to live here.
When approaching the manor castle, he saw the Demeter growing just fine on top of the piece of cloud dirt he placed in the sky. The creature had turned into a flourishing tree that reached its branches into all directions.
Eureka was casually reading a book while sitting beside the Demeter. It seemed she quite enjoyed the Demeter’s healing aura even though it wasn’t enough to actually heal her spirit injury.
“You’re back?” Eureka looked up and saw the Gondola approaching. She had seen this lovely vehicle many times, yet she couldn’t help but appreciate the pretty style of it each time she saw it again.
Angor nodded and hopped onto the floating island while putting the boat into his bracelet.
“What’s wrong with your hand?” Eureka noticed that Angor’s right hand was hidden behind a simple illusion.
“I ran into some trouble. Don’t want Leon to see it.”
“Alright. So, did you find a way to save Jon’s life yet?”
“No.” Angor shook his head. “It seems I can’t prevent his death after all.”
It wasn’t a lie. Jon was probably going to “die” regardless, but Angor wasn’t planning on telling Eureka what happened next.
After making sure the Demeter was in good condition, Angor said goodbye and headed to the ice room.
Eureka saw him leaving with an inquisitive look.
“I think he’s lying to us, Master.” Brulee the Owl poked its head out of a cluster of tree leaves.
“No. He’s telling the truth. Just not all of it.” Eureka stretched her arms and put down her book. “No matter. I’m hoping he can keep Jon with us for longer.”
“We don’t know what he’s been up to in these months. He could have sold us out to our enemies.”
“No, he won’t. At least not when Jon and Leon are still here.”