Witch Troupe and the Undead

The Arcane Furnace increases the flame temperature by gathering fire elements rather than consuming them. The alchemically treated charcoal becomes a red powder with a higher calorific value than normal charcoal. Combined, these two factors eliminate the need for the world to build massive blast furnaces to melt iron ore.

At the same time, due to the existence of magic and alchemy, this world did not develop the steel industry that Roach was familiar with, but other types. It was normal at the basic iron stage, but steel above iron was distinctly different from the steel he was familiar with.

Throughout the city, you can see all sorts of weapon workshops and armor workshops, as well as clanging iron workshops where the short, stocky Nome dwarves melt iron ore and add various alchemical materials to create all sorts of special alchemical alloys.

Some of these alloys are sent to forging factories, where they are forged into weapons and armor plates by wind- or fire-powered machines. Others are sent to larger arcane furnaces to be melted down and cast into large metal components.

For example, armor plates embedded in the city walls as reinforcements or parts for defensive siege equipment—the vast majority of these products were sent to Deathwhisper Fortress and Spire Fortress, which was defended against the Kingdom of Rada, for the repair and reinforcement of the fortress defenses.

Now, these mountains of military supplies can only be used for Hearth City itself. Roach and Livia walked down the street, watching curiously as carriages piled with strange metal components sped by. The little girl seemed to have developed a strong interest in the weapon workshops, especially the exquisite armor, and looked at Roach with expectant eyes.

After assessing the thickness and weight of the armor, Roach could only shrug at the little witch, indicating that it was impossible for him to move around in such heavy armor.

"Hmm~" Her emerald eyes dimmed instantly, then she looked at the street with a longing expression, a thoughtful look on her face, as if she was considering some new plan.

As an alchemist, Roach was placed in the Mystic Tower in the city along with other spellcasters. The Mystic Tower was less of a tower and more of a square building, at least six stories high, with an area roughly the size of the residential buildings in Roach's memory.

A golden metal structure, resembling an armillary sphere, floats on the rooftop. The Mystic Tower serves as a classroom, library, laboratory, and city defense facility. The ground floor houses the society's commission center and reception hall, the second floor contains classrooms, the third floor is the library, the fourth and fifth floors are laboratories, the sixth floor is offices, and the top floor contains mystic devices for city defense.

There are two such towers, forming a twin tower structure, belonging to the Mystic Society and the Alchemy Society respectively. Scattered around the towers are ancillary facilities amidst meticulously manicured gardens and white stone-paved roads.

The buildings included tall, exquisite hotels for visiting monks and scholars, as well as dormitories for apprentices, which looked no different from university dormitories.

For example, there is the "Valley of Knowledge," a large tavern and restaurant where scholars can drink and exchange ideas. It has a rather spacious and bright banquet hall for celebrations. It is a three-story tavern with a basement, and even has its own courtyard, stables, and a heating boiler powered by a secret furnace.

The public workshop that Roach and his group could use was located behind the Arcane Twin Towers, far from the main city walls, and near an artificial lake within the city used to deal with sieges. It was clearly a place with extensive experience in explosions, fires, and the spread of poisons.

Next to the workshop was a semi-buried arched building, which was the only water purification plant in the city. When Roach heard that there was a dedicated water purification plant and sewage treatment plant in this place, his expression was quite varied.

Later, he learned from Morna that about 20 to 30 years ago, let alone a small city like this, even large cities wouldn't have such a thing, and even a sewer system was quite rare. It was only in the last 10 years, with the alchemical revolution and the widespread use of arcane furnaces, and the increasingly outrageous mischief caused by mages, that such a thing came into existence. The real reason was something Morna had secretly told Roach.

Because a high-ranking duke in the empire got drunk and went to the toilet, he was given a French kiss by a putrid slime monster that crawled out of the sewer pipe. Seven or eight buckets of purifying fluid were used just for stomach lavage and rinsing. After such a messy incident, the nobles of the empire realized the seriousness of the matter.

In addition, with the frequent occurrence of mass poisonings and the spread of plagues, the cities of the empire, at least the more important and prosperous cities and fortresses like Hearthstone, were equipped with water purification plants and sewage treatment plants. It must be said that this was very useful in solving the problem of excrement and sewage all over the streets.

Furthermore, the nobles also added a "sewage treatment tax." Of course, this tax is not entirely unreasonable, since the elf race is responsible for this water purification system.

These tiny creatures, only about the length of an adult's arm, are skilled at using unique fairy magic to transform sewage into clean drinking water, or to turn various magical toxins into normal toxins—yes, they can't detoxify, but they can temporarily dispel and destroy the magical structures within, thus turning them into normal toxic substances.

"Those arched houses are the fairies' factories and dormitories. However, these little creatures have strange personalities and tempers, so it's best not to provoke them..."

Morna was introducing the fairies to Roach, and was just about to describe the sturdy, prison-like buildings by the lake in the distance when she saw Livia approach the arched, semi-subterranean house and reach out to pluck a beautiful white flower from the roof!

"Aaaaaah!" Morna let out a shrill scream. Those flowers were like the fairies' nameplates and thresholds. Picking the flowers from their rooftops was second only to plucking the leaf-shaped ahoge from their heads in terms of seriousness.

She wasn't worried about what the fairies would do to Livia; she was afraid that the super tornado that had just struck earlier would have blown everything around the Twin Towers up.

"%!@" A clear, melodious sound, like singing, rang out. Although it sounded pleasant, judging from the expression on the face of the fairy who peeked out, its content was probably a homophone or description of something like an alpaca or a straw hat.

"Huh? A fairy!?" Livia looked at the angry fairy and directly pinched the semi-transparent wings on the fairy's back with two fingers. ".......I f***ing..." The fairy's hand flashed with starlight-like light, which was then extinguished the next second. Livia curiously pinched the leaf-shaped ahoge on the fairy's head.

"..." The fairy with long, curly, emerald-green hair had a face that was as exquisite as a goddess in the 3D zone, and a mixture of frustration, fear, and intoxication appeared on it. If it weren't for the somewhat incongruous situation, Roach would have thought that she was about to perform a scene from a script.

After being thoroughly rubbed and kneaded by Livia, satisfying her curiosity, the blonde girl took out a small piece of floral-scented gel from her bag and handed it to her.

"Holy crap!" Roach was stunned when he saw this. That thing was...

The fairy sniffed the soft cake in her hand. It had a texture like gummy candy and emitted a rich floral fragrance, which made her eyes light up. She put the cake in her mouth, and the next second, the unfortunate fairy froze as if she had been sprayed with insecticide, and fell to the ground with a thud.

As if a visible soul with a peaceful expression rose up, Livia tilted her head, reached out and pinched this invisible spirit. She glanced at its tail, which was still connected to the body, so it shouldn't be considered a forbidden matter mentioned by her mentor. Then she pressed the thing back down. To others, it looked like Livia reached out and touched the head of the limp fairy on the ground, and the latter snapped awake.

The awakened fairy hesitated for a moment, looking at the half-eaten soft cake in her hand. She then took out a metal bucket with an ominous dark green shell and a rune painted on its surface with ink, which looked very sturdy, and carefully placed it inside.

That action made Roach think she was handling some highly dangerous radioactive object or biochemical waste. After finishing, the fairy chatted with Livia in her still clear and melodious voice.

Roach and Morna couldn't understand what they were talking about. Livia didn't make any sound, but it seemed that the fairies could hear her, and Livia could also seamlessly understand the latter's fairy language.

“Fairy language, I know a little bit about it,” Leslie scratched her cheek. “They seem to be talking about desserts.”

As a poet, learning fairy language is a must, since some ancient musical scores and epics were written in fairy language, and fairies have a high level of musical skill. Most bards, even if it's just to pretend, will learn a few words of fairy language to enhance their image.

Chapter Twenty-Five: Check-in

"I want to eat!" Those emerald eyes clearly expressed this request to Roach, while the green-haired fairy, who was no more than 50 centimeters tall, sat on the stone lamppost by the roadside, chattering away.

"Okay, where can I buy them?" Roach calmly took out his wallet. He hadn't earned any points yet, and he still needed to figure out how to pay for desserts. He figured that delicious desserts wouldn't be cheap.

"Are you talking to me?" The fairy looked at Roach in surprise, and after realizing that he couldn't understand her at all, she switched to Luster language. "Oh, are you the magical pet that Lia (nickname) mentioned that looks a lot like a human?" The fairy flew up and circled around Roach, examining him carefully for a while. "Indeed, you look a lot like a human, except your face is a little ugly."

The fairy carried a herbal scent, and her translucent wings seemed completely unable to support her weight. It was unclear how she managed to fly. She had a very dangerous hairstyle: long, slightly curly green hair tied into a bunch with a silver hair ring and hanging down her side, swaying with her movements.

"What do you mean by being like a human? I am clearly a human!"

"Wow! It's actually human?" The fairy exclaimed in an exaggerated voice, and the little witch also looked at her with a puzzled expression. "Human?" She tilted her head to one side, and golden hair slid down her shoulder like a light golden curtain.

"A magical pet?" Morna was taken aback. Was this some kind of gameplay she didn't know? Was it a bit too wild, or should she say that this man named Roach had a peculiar taste in things?

"Ah, I'll go put my things away first. My room is number 16. What kind of look is that? I meant the workspace. I glanced at your workspace number earlier; it's number 15. They're right next to each other. After you've finished dealing with your personal matters here, you can come to my workspace to discuss the upcoming military orders."

Alchemists and occultists were assigned to work in two different places. As for accommodation, those with local status lived in towers or dormitories, while those not registered with the local academy lived in hotels, which were quite large.

The esoteric mages are assigned to work on the top floor of the arcane tower, where they charge and stand guard over the arcane devices. When needed, they operate the devices to attack enemies outside the city or erect protective barriers. Otherwise, they simply sit and relax in their offices below.

The alchemists were assigned a workshop, where they could choose to do their own work or complete military orders. Regardless of their choice, the finished products were purchased by the military.

Of course, this treatment was limited to alchemists with a certain level of skill. As for the apprentices, they lived with the mage apprentices and worked in the temporary armory outside the city, mass-producing some low-level and basic alchemical products.

"By the way, if you need apprentices and assistants, you can check out the Tower of Learning, or the Mystic School. Their apprentices don't mind doing part-time work." After all, both of these professions are very expensive, and it's normal for apprentices who aren't from wealthy families to do some part-time work to supplement their tuition fees.

"What about me?" Leslie hadn't heard anything about her own plans.

“Let me see…” Morna looked at the arrangement form in her hand. “Oh, Miss Leslie, you seem to be a registered maid, so I’m sorry, if Miss Livia doesn’t plan to work locally or doesn’t have a house, you’ll have to stay at an inn.”

“Ah, this…” If Livia had obtained her professional certification locally, with her level, she could have been assigned a villa in the garden woodland on the side of the tower as her residence, but the price would be that she would be obligated to attend one class per week.

The minimum duration is one hour, and this class is a public class. Simply put, the apprentices attending the class cannot be charged separately; it is considered a benefit or obligation of the association and society.

Apart from that, all other course schedules are chargeable. Generally, the association will give her a reference price. Of course, if you don't believe in such things, you can set a very high price. As for whether the course will sell, that depends on your teaching level, personal ability, and reputation.

Morna believed that with Livia's power, anyone who had witnessed her summoning that apocalyptic storm would have plenty of people willing to pay to see her even if she just stood there in a daze for an hour.

A master of this caliber is someone you can only glimpse once in a lifetime. Even if she doesn't teach you anything, just sitting in the classroom for an hour can make you claim to have been taught by the Golden Witch, much like Liu Bei taking lessons from Lu Zhi.

However, Livia is not currently registered. On the registration form given by the knight, her rank is bronze. Even if she were to register at the academy, she would only have a private dormitory room, although this "dormitory room" is actually the size of a typical middle-class family's house, more than enough for five people.

As for not being registered, she could only stay in a hotel like Roach, while her servants and maids would have to be arranged to stay outside, or they could pay a sum of money to rent a detached house that the association rents out.

“Okay, I understand.” Roach waved to Morna, who dragged her luggage toward the workshop. She learned to provide basic tools, but they were nothing compared to the exquisite and precious items she had. She had to put these precious tools away properly and take good care of them first.

"Are you really human?" A pair of bare feet lightly stepped onto the man's shoulder from beneath the pink hem of his dress. "Then why do you look like this?"

“Yes, it was pieced together,” Livia said softly. “It was broken before, and Livia fixed it.”

"It's fixed? Ah, it's a humanoid puppet! It's so realistic! Let me see it~" The fairy's little hands rummaged around on Roach's head, seemingly trying to find some kind of seam or something.

"I really am human, but my situation is a bit special. As for the scars on my face, they were caused by an explosion." Roach impatiently grabbed the fairy's wings and pulled her down. The fairy immediately started cursing loudly and even conjured a ball of phosphorescent fire in her hand, trying to shove it up Roach's nostrils. Fortunately, Livia stopped her in time.

"Honestly, you rude thing! If there's a next time, I'll definitely shove your head up your ass!" The fairy lady bounced angrily in Livia's palm, pointing at Roach and yelling.

"Mmm~ Mmm~" Livia gently stroked the fairy's hair with her fingertips, as if trying to soothe her.

"In short, I am actually human, just a bit special, or rather, I have a stronger vitality," Roach said seriously. He didn't want to be inexplicably dehumanized.

"Mmm~ Mmm~" Livia nodded in agreement, but Roach felt that her attitude was rather perfunctory.

"By the way, where are you planning to stay? A hotel? I know the owner well, he can give me a discount."

Led by the fairy, Roach and Livia arrived at the entrance of the inn, a rather grand three-story wooden structure with a beautiful and wide sloping triangular wooden roof. The entire structure looked as if it had been assembled from parts, without a single nail in sight.

After careful observation, Roach discovered that it was not a mortise and tenon joint, but rather that some supernatural force had fused the wood blocks together, leaving only a layer of wood grain on the surface.

The inn's interior is also made of pure wood. The curved staircase, like wings, shelters the counter below. A thick hand-woven carpet covers the floor. Whether it's the vase in the corner, the rustic and exquisite shelf, or the trinkets on it, one can feel an atmosphere of refinement and luxury.

The first floor of the inn has no guest rooms; it is mainly the staff's living quarters and work area. Since mages and scholars are not fond of crowds, the inn also offers room service for those who do not wish to dine at the "Valley of Knowledge" tavern. There is also a café on the first floor that serves as a part-time lounge, selling desserts and coffee.

Energy-boosting sweets and invigorating coffee are the closest companions of mages and alchemists, accompanying them through countless nights of grappling with challenging scientific problems.

"Two rooms? Or one room?" The receptionist was clearly not a professional. Judging from her attire, she seemed to be a girl working part-time at the Alchemy Society. Her hair was tied into two thick braids hanging down in front of her, and her bangs were unkempt. Apart from not wearing glasses, she had the typical look of a literary girl.

"Two rooms," Roach sighed. A truly experienced receptionist wouldn't need to ask such a question. Most of them have enough eyesight to tell what the relationship is between the guests and whether they are together. However, this is the area of ​​the Mystic Tower, which is protected by an independent inner city wall, making it an independent stronghold after the city is breached.

Therefore, most of the staff employed here are apprentices who have studied here. After all, alchemy and occult spells are quite expensive. These apprentices not only charge low prices, but as insiders, they will not make any basic mistakes when receiving spellcasters.

For example, when cleaning the room, the refiner's materials are taken out and thrown away as garbage. To be honest, many times the refiner's materials do look similar to the stuff in the trash can.

"Two rooms? Please register your registration code and name at the academy." The girl pushed a registration book over.

"Sorry, we're not from the academy. I'm from River Bend Town; I was recruited here. She is..."

"A new lecturer?" The girl looked at the golden emblem on Livia's chest and suddenly realized, "Then registering here is the same. The register here is connected to the main tower." It's some kind of secret device; the information registered here will be displayed synchronously over there.

"Rocky, alchemist, uh, refiner, I guess." Rocky filled in this information in the form in the book.

"No registration code, no guild registration... Wait, are you a wild mage? No, you're an ancient alchemist?" Ancient alchemists refer to those alchemists who aimed to create the Philosopher's Stone before alchemy was divided into disciplines. In modern times, they basically represent two things: first, they have never been to school; second, they are amateur scientists.

Of course, unlike amateur scientists on Earth who have no use other than creating myths, these guys who specialize in ancient alchemy also double as archaeologists. They can actually come up with some lost ancient techniques and crafts from time to time, and their basic skills are also very solid.

After all, amateur scientists are famous because they don't need to go into the laboratory, and most of the time they are just working on paper. And that piece of paper won't blow them and their whole family to smithereens like a scroll in the hands of the Creator.

The ancient alchemists here actually have to go into the laboratory and face a bunch of things that could blow their whole family up at any time. Therefore, their basic skills are very solid. In fact, because they don't have systematic learning and safety regulations, they may be more solid than most of the apprentices in the academy. Those who are not solid have already blown up solidly.

"No, I also have formal training, I just haven't been certified by the association."

"And who is your mentor...?"

“Her!” Roach pointed at Livia with an air of self-righteousness. The latter paused for a moment, then straightened her chest slightly. Although her small face was expressionless, her eyes sparkled.

"Ah, I see~" Mystic mages do indeed do some alchemy work on the side. If a mystic mage were to teach, it would be like a language teacher teaching math. You can say that they can't teach anything profound, but you can't say that they didn't receive a formal education.

"That explains it. The alchemy taught by the Mystic Mage was indeed not registered in the academy."

"Do you want to register now? There are many benefits to registering for membership. For example, you can rent expensive equipment like the Mystic Furnace, attend classes for free at the academy, and have the opportunity to receive instruction from other scholars," the girl enthusiastically recommended.

"Is it really that easy to register?"

"Of course not. If you want to register, just sign here first. Then we will send someone to verify with the knight commander who recruited you, and then we will arrange a ranking assessment for you." Those who can be recruited as war sorcerers are all formal alchemists, that is, advanced level, which is different from the apprentices who are still studying.

"Does Livia need one too?" Livia asked curiously, pointing to herself.

"Are you also registering in this city? Please wait a moment, I'll go get the senior apprentice next door." The girl hurriedly ran towards the side lounge, and facing the closed door, she unhesitatingly stuck a foot out from under her gray-black apprentice robe, "Bang!"

"Is it the undead attacking?!" A young male voice rang out, and then a young man was seen tumbling out of the lounge, wearing a black cotton eye mask on his head, obviously he had just dozed off inside.

"Ah, are there any esoteric mages registering? I'm a new apprentice... Ah, excuse me, hello, I'm Raven from the Esoteric Society. Are you a new lecturer? No, a new war mage?"

War sorcerers and war mages are titles for occult mages and alchemists who are temporarily recruited. They are temporary professions, after all, when you get paid and rewarded, there has to be a name on the receipt, right?

"Please fill in your relevant information and then place the Mystic Triangle here." The Mystic Triangle is the basic symbol of a Mystic Master, equivalent to a personal seal. At the same time, in order to protect the academic achievements and privacy of Mystic Masters, only basic information, namely the identity of the Mystic Master, can be registered when the other party is unwilling to make more detailed records. Even the rank does not need to be registered.

If recorded in the most detailed way, it would include information such as name, grantor, granting organization, major achievements, and areas of expertise, all recorded in a complex, cryptic, and encrypted manner. However, as a war mage, there is no need to register too much information; it basically only includes the name and areas of expertise, and even the rank can be omitted.

After all, most of those recruited are rural mages. Even the mage community, known for its low emotional intelligence, knows that a deputy position cannot be called a deputy position. If Livia were to register more, such as actually joining a local association, then it would be different. If it's just something like a temporary job, then it wouldn't be so troublesome.

"Livia, your area of ​​expertise is the life domain. Hmm, please put your hand here." This was also a means to prevent impersonation. Only a cryptic mage could activate the arcane triangle. Livia obediently placed her little hand on the golden triangle, and soon a strange triangular rune was imprinted on the paper below.

"Well, registration is complete. Miss Livia, are you really not going to join our society?" The little witch shook her head. It wasn't that she didn't want to join, but her teacher had told her never to join any society, because they were full of man-eating old men.

Therefore, she was afraid that she would really be eaten by something, so no matter how the mage named Raven tried to persuade her, she shook her head and refused. If she got impatient, she would hide behind Roach.

Faced with the threat of the alchemical artifact in Roach's possession, which was clearly not a benevolent object, Raven abandoned his plan to recruit the seemingly cute little mage Livia into his school.

Chapter Twenty-Six: The Meaning of Fairy Names

Compared to the simple certification of occultists, Roach's situation is more complicated. Alchemists don't have any personal symbols, and their academic and skill levels are not easily distinguishable. Therefore, they need to go through relevant examinations and be classified. In fact, once Roach leaves Lywood County, no matter where he goes, he has to take the test again if he wants to use the facilities of the local society.

As for why alchemists have no symbolic representation, it's simply due to discrimination. The origin of alchemy was to create the Philosopher's Stone, which was used to turn iron and copper into gold. To put it bluntly, the founder of alchemy created this technique for the purpose of counterfeiting.

Whether it's the Philosopher's Stone, which represents the highest achievement and can grant people false life, or the Fool's Gold they forged, it all speaks volumes. And then, in a group that has developed from its founders into a group dedicated to forgery, using something like the Arcane Triangle for authentication... let alone outsiders, even the alchemists themselves don't trust their own people!

Since Roach and his companions were recruited by the lord and had his guarantee, the literary-minded sorceress still gave them two rooms. It must be said that the rooms at the Arcane Tower were much better than the ones they had stayed in before in River Bend.

Not only was the room carpeted, but exquisite tapestries also hung on the walls on either side of the bed. The bedding was very smooth to the touch, made of either silk or fine linen. There was no fireplace in the room, only something resembling a radiator, heated and cooled by a secret furnace in the basement.

The cabinets, bookshelves, desk, coffee table, ceramic tea set, and coat rack by the entrance are basically on par with the standard rooms in international hotels that Roach used to stay in.

Livia was also very satisfied with the exquisite room. She snuggled into the quilt like a little golden fluffy ball, rubbing her face against the silky pillow.

While Livia was already comfortably snuggled into bed and sleeping, Roach didn't have much free time. First, he needed to go to the workshop to check the tools, then collect materials and orders, and earn some money first.

The meals here are paid for by the Earl of Hearth City, but unfortunately, it's only a standard working meal. If you want dessert, coffee, or alcoholic beverages, you have to pay for them yourself, and the prices are quite high.

"Are you going to work already?" The fairy who had led the way earlier suddenly reappeared, carrying a stack of pastries. "Want to try some? The chef here is a half-fairy, and his skills are no different from those of other fairies."

"A half-demon?" Roach looked this little thing up and down. It was no more than 50 centimeters tall. He couldn't imagine what kind of extraordinary talent it had to be to cause a death with a demon.