Chapter 150: Research On Magical Items
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The mages in Crewe were simple minded, after introducing all twenty plus of themselves to Benjamin, they welcomed Benjamin with opened arms into their big family, and the gathering ended shortly afterwards.
Even though it felt weird, Benjamin ended up becoming part of an organization just like this.
Of course, suddenly meeting twenty plus people, he could not remember all of them properly yet. The ones that left an impression were only a few: the female boss of the tailor shop, the blacksmith, a middle-aged man and a young girl. The remaining did not say much, he could not possibly remember them due to his poor ability to remember people’s faces.
But luckily, the System was here, it helped him save all that he was supposed to remember. At least, if he bumped into them onto the street, he would not end up in the awkward situation where one could not remember the other’s name.
Before the gathering ended, Benjamin made a new request.
He wanted to see that Mister Andrew.
According to the female boss, this Mister Andrew who has done the research that can deceive the cross was introverted and did not like to leave home much. He was probably doing research at home right now.
But under the pressure from Benjamin, the middle-aged man promised that after dispersing he would bring Benjamin to Andrew’s house for a visit right away.
-----After all, his inventions will determine whether or not they can leave the country. Benjamin wanted to see him.
Andrew’s house was at the north part of town, it was a small hut that did not draw attention. According to the other people, besides being a mage, Andrew was also a clock smith. Maybe he had the knack for fixing those intricate things, thus he should have a natural talent for magical tools as well, and was able to make tools that can save a person by activating instantly. This was why he ended up devoting himself to researching the cross.
Hearing this, Benjamin was even more interested.
The Church has inhibited the creation of magical items all this time, so mages only end up with shoddy magical equipment. For the Church, a simple priest was already equipped with tons of crosses, but for the mages, other than mass-produced robes, other methods of making magical equipment has mostly been lost throughout the years.
Thus, it was not simple for a mage to create so many life-saving tools.
"Are you home? Andrew, it’s me, Augustine, please open the door."
The middle-aged Augustine led Benjamin to Andrew’s house door. Augustine walked forward and knocked on the door while shouting.
After not even two seconds, the door opened on its own.
Seeing this, Benjamin raised his eyebrows.
"Don’t be surprised, this is not related to magic, this is just some mechanical stuff he likes to toy around with." Augustine turned around, and explained while smiling, "Just like our secret tunnel, he designed it."
Benjamin smiled and shook his head, not saying anything.
He was not surprised at all, it was just an automatic door, his previous world was technologically advanced, and he has seen many of these things.
But the environment now was different. Andrew must really have expertise in this field to be able to create such things.
While thinking about this, he followed Augustine into the house.
Very quickly, in the room that looked like an extremely messy library, he saw a frail young man huddled by the desk, holding something in his hands.
"Come, meet our new friend. This is Benjamin, a mage who just came to Crewe." Augustine walked forward and patted Andrew on the shoulder, saying this.
Andrew seemed to have only come back to his senses after being patted. He put down the watch and metal parts, lifted his head, looked at the two, and said shyly: "He-, hello, I’m Andrew, nice-nice to meet you."
He looked really unkempt. With a crumpled shirt and messy hair, it looked like he has not washed up for a long time.
Benjamin did not pay much attention to these, but nodded politely and said: "Hello, nice to meet you too."
He did not expect that Andrew would stutter.
After some thought, not waiting for others to say a word, Benjamin continued: "I hear you are really talented in making magic tools, I’m interested. Could you introduce me to some?"
He has only seen the Church create magical items, so he was interested in Andrew very much. Thus, he did not ask about how to cheat his way with the crosses at the gate, but started with this.
Hearing this, Andrew scratched his messy hair, and nodded, saying: "Al-,alright." He did not show any hint of wanting to hide anything, which left Benjamin surprised.
With this, Andrew started his explanation on magical items.
"...magical tools, items, they are......uh, how do you say......they are a type, type of..."
After five minutes.
"I’m not sure, not sure if you understood, they are, are a kind of form of energy, a form..."
"..."
Benjamin was flustered.
"Whatever." Seeing Andrew stutter so much and everything was unclear, Benjamin sighed, shook his head, and helplessly said, "I won’t trouble you anymore. If you can’t really explain, it’s alright."
He should not have expected a person who stutters to explain such complicated things.
Regret.
"Sor, Sorry....." Andrew looked rather sad.
"It’s fine." Benjamin smiled, and said: "Where did you learn all this from, could you tell me? The methods to create magical items are probably all lost through the ages."
Andrew replied: "I read them, from, from books."
Suddenly, Benjamin’s eyes lit up.
"What book? Can I have a look?"
Andrew made an awkward expression and shook his head: "While escaping here, on the, the way, I accidentally, accidentally lost it."
"..."
How exhausting.
At this moment, Benjamin could feel a sense of regret in his heart----- why was he so hell bent on this visit?
Augustine shook his head as if he expected this to happen.
Benjamin’s visit to find out the secrets of creating magical items seemed to have ended in failure. He could only sigh from sadness. His heart seemed to have died a little.
Might as well leave and not interrupt other people’s research.
But before leaving, he could not resist to ask about his progress on creating a tool to deceive the cross.
"That method to prevent the cross from figuring out a mage’s identity, how long will it take to complete?"
If the progress was fast enough, he did not have to worry about this anymore. Thus even though he was exhausted, he still wanted to ask this question.
Luckily, the reply Andrew gave made today’s visit much more meaningful.
"I don’t have a choice, I have always, always tried to make them get their hands on that, that cross, but they can’t, can’t get any. My progress would be very slow because, cause of this."
Hearing this, Benjamin turned around and looked at Augustine. Augustine shook his head helplessly and said: "Those crosses are always with the troops, we really can’t get our hands on any."
No wonder.....
Benjamin nodded as if he had something in mind.
"If it’s like this, I can try." After some thought, he raised his head and looked at Andrew, and said, "I can bring you a cross from one of the troops, you can try to break it down and investigate it."
With these words, the two showed an expression of joy.
"Real, really? " Andrew asked cautiously.
"I can try, but I don’t know whether I’ll succeed." Benjamin shrugged and said. "But I’ll be very careful, even if I can’t get one, I will make sure I won’t be exposed."
Most of what he said was the truth.
He had no choice, he was not a skilled thief, and did not have any talent in stealing. But through the investigative ability that the water particle sensing technique gave him, he could discover what many others could not, like that priest at the Crusader Gateway.....
Thinking of this, Benjamin’s expression changed slightly.
No matter what, the troops were still human, and humans could err, Benjamin could find a way. All he had to do was try, it would not make him pregnant, and he would not be in the way of danger anyway.
In short, he had to do something about it.