From Hogwarts to Strixhaven.

Chapter 616 Molten Core
The arrival of Stryking and his students undoubtedly caused a sensation throughout Morning Star City.

The residents here had never felt so strongly that their lord was a powerful mage, and many of them were witnessing the power of magic for the first time.

A portal shimmering with multicolored iridescent light opened in the Star Fortress's plaza, from which countless mages of various races, clad in vibrant robes, filed out, accompanied by enormous constructs dragging all sorts of supplies...

Ordinary caravans use oxen and horses to carry goods, while large-scale trade uses merchant ships to transport goods by water. However, the idea of ​​opening an interdimensional portal that can be maintained continuously for a whole day to transport supplies and people directly from other worlds to their destination is unheard of in Forgotten Realms.

"Mom!" Arabella jumped up and grabbed her mother's clothes, hoping the latter could lift her up. "Where is the professor?"

Camilla, the proprietress of the End of Light Inn, was certainly not the first to arrive at the City Square. Ivy had not informed her people before the portal opened, and apart from the soldiers responsible for maintaining order, not many people in Dawnstar City knew enough about what had happened that day.

Not to mention the Camilla family's inn outside the city.

When the family of three put down their work and rushed to the municipal square, it was already surrounded by a crowd, everyone wanting to stand on tiptoe to see what the so-called visitors from another world looked like.

Alabel's father, Loki, lifted her high above his head, letting the little mage apprentice sit on his shoulders: "Can you see that, little one? Tell me what you see!"

“Wow—” Arabella exclaimed softly, but she didn’t forget to describe the sight to her parents. “So many constructs, those metal machines that can move on their own! They’re pulling lots and lots of beautiful stones, and all sorts of tools that I can’t name! Mom! What do you say someone who looks like an owl?”

“Perhaps… an owl-man? Anyway, any bear that looks like an owl is called an owl-bear.” Camilla thought for a moment before answering. She knew very well that the lord kept many pets, including a huge owl-bear that often appeared at the orphanage.

“Okay, those are Owlmen. Besides Owlmen, there are Elephant-Headed Men and Lion-Headed Men in the group! I even saw a brown bear dressed in human clothes! He was even wearing a monocle!” Arabel clapped his hands excitedly. “What is that! A walking tree! My God! Did you see that? A tree dressed in human clothes!”

Plant students are not uncommon in Streihaven. Besides tree spirits who look almost identical to humans, except for those with green skin and leafy hair, there are also tree spirits whose limbs are entirely composed of tree trunks and branches, topped with enormous canopies.

Thanks to the tree spirit's large size, the Camilla couple, standing in the crowd, could clearly see his figure.

"Compared to them, the horns on our heads and the tails on our backsides are nothing!"

Not only did the Tieflins think this way, but even the ordinary humans who fled from all over Sword Coast to Dawnstar City to try their luck thought the same. It was like undergoing desensitization therapy; when the oddities in life became overwhelming, the Tieflins who would normally never accept them suddenly seemed approachable, not to mention that some of the Tieflins actually became more normal-looking humanoid creatures.

The hustle and bustle in Morningstar City didn't last long. After all, Strijn was only building an admissions office here, not moving the entire academy over. Therefore, the amount of supplies that needed to be transported through the interdimensional gate wasn't excessive. It was just that spare parts and processing tools for those golems took up a large portion of the space.

Furthermore, a small portion of these individuals will travel to Baldur's Gate under the guidance of the retired Archmage Flamemane Gibeck, take over the Lamagis Tower, and embark on another educational activity.

Only a small number of the Dragon Guards and mages from the School Work Department will stay behind to help Ivy build Morningstar City.

In Ivy's plan, the most important thing is to renovate the adamantite forge in Dusk Star City and build a larger elevator to connect the two cities.

Even the modification of new golems and the creation of omnipotent machines will have to be postponed.

After all, these golems that came from the Akavievo timeline can only move for a very short time after losing the blessing of the Stryhaven Magic Vortex, after which the caster needs to re-infuse them with magic power.

Therefore, the main task of this team of teachers and students from Strychhaven is to obtain energy from the lava river that runs through the city of Dusk Star City and build a large charging station.

“This is my apprentice, Roland. He will be in charge of the handover at Baldur's Gate.” Standing at the Dawnstar City ferry, Ivy introduced Roland and the retired Archmage Flamemane Gibeck to each other. “Roland, this is the highly respected retired Archmage of Stryhaven, Master Flamemane Gibeck. Once you have completed the handover of the Mage Tower, you can return to Dawnstar City to prepare for your enrollment at Stryhaven. If you have any academic or campus life questions, you can consult Master Gibeck. I dare say that in Forgotten Realms, no one knows Akavievo and Stryhaven better than him.”

"You flatter me too much," the old lion-headed cat laughed, his legs practically splitting. "Our Professor Doom is truly a rising star in Strathaven! To be able to study under such a renowned master, you must be a very talented student! I believe that soon Strathaven will have another great mage!"

Roland was a mage apprentice from the countryside. Although he harbored ambitions and dreams of becoming an archmage, he had never witnessed the true nature of the world. The power and influence that Ivy now displayed before him were things he had never even dared to imagine before. Not to mention that fake master, Lorokan, who was neither particularly strong nor intelligent, and relied entirely on his smooth talk to deceive and swindle.

Roland didn't know what to say, so he just kept nodding, looking forward to his future college life.

After bidding farewell to Roland and the group of Strychwen students who were embarking on a merchant ship, Ivy headed towards Dusk Star City. The professors from the School's Engineering Department, responsible for building and improving the golem production line, had already set off ahead of time. The only remaining connection between the two city districts was the elevator built by the Sha's followers; however, with the city's expansion, this machine, requiring multiple transfers, was no longer sufficient to meet the needs of urban development.

Therefore, in addition to conducting on-site investigations of the lava river in the dark region, the Strychian School's engineering department also needs to select a new location and open a new elevator shaft.

In addition, the Strychian faculty and staff who came to the continent of Faerûn included the Dean of the Mihua Bloodline, the old vampire Valentine.

Upon arriving in Faerûn, he discovered that the sun there also scorched him, a vampire from another world. It seemed the celestial bodies here truly treated everyone equally, showing no leniency towards outsiders like monks.

After burning his withered hands to a crisp, the old vampire Valentine leisurely found Ivy and begged for his sun's blessing.

Dean Valentine came for a new food for vampires. The crop, temporarily named "Blood Berry," has begun to be cultivated. However, according to his estimate, it will take at least a dozen generations of cultivation to fully integrate the characteristics of plants and animals, allowing blood to be stored and accumulated in the fruit as nutrients.

Field investigations into the future ecological environment of this new crop are more conducive to incorporating local characteristics and providing guidance and correction for the experimental plan.

In addition to the "Blood Berry" crop cultivation project, Ivy named the plan to use lava energy to power city institutions and golems "Molten Core". The plan was to use this scorching power from the earth to completely transform Dawnstar City and Duskstar City into cities on the continent of Faerûn that would never see the sunset.

As the initiator and leader of the "Molten Core" project, the first thing Ivy had to do was to convene a meeting of all participants, assign tasks, and coordinate the work himself.

The meeting was held in the Underdark, specifically at the Adamantite Forge platform in Duskstar City.

A thousand years ago, the underground dwarf craftsman Shilov Yari was a genius craftsman who worshipped Shar and designed the Furnace of Revenge, which was powered by lava and steam, to forge adamantite equipment for his goddess.

Unfortunately, Shar never appreciated the loyalty of her followers, nor did she care how much they sacrificed for her. Once she grew tired of them, they were met with their abandonment without any reason.

Now that the Forge of Vengeance is in Ivy's hands, the subterranean gnomes, born from Baldur's Gate, under the leadership of Urbrun and Bacchus, have done extensive maintenance on the old and malfunctioning forge, allowing it to be barely put back into production of adamantite equipment. The clever subterranean gnomes have even created one or two new molds, adding some options to the adamantite equipment produced in Duskstar City.

However, Ivy was never satisfied with the outdated production efficiency of the adamantite furnace.

The adamantite furnace designed by Shilov Ari is a completely mechanized device, devoid of any magical elements. Apart from various brass pipes studded with rivets, it consists of numerous gears and transmission mechanisms at work.

While this mechanical structure doesn't rely on magic, it still requires a large number of skilled workers for maintenance. After all, you can't expect medieval metallurgy to forge seamless steel pipes for massive machines. Therefore, patching leaky pipes with molten iron became an essential task for these underground gnomes.

However, the danger of this work is still too high for human beings. The harm of high-temperature steam is no less than that of lava, and even causes far greater harm due to its greater heat release efficiency and unpredictable nozzles.

The adamantite furnace had only been running for a few months when all the underground dwarves were already injured, and a few unlucky ones had even passed away prematurely.

Ivy not only wants to build a unified functional equipment smelting core in Dusk Star City, but also wants to overhaul the power system of the adamantite furnace.

Therefore, standing atop the Adamantite Forge observation deck were not only the underground gnomes responsible for maintenance, but also Gunder followers from Dawnstar City, and the staff of the Sturhaven School of Engineering.

As the lord of Morningstar, with statues of Ivy plastered on the bedsides of Twilightstar's residents, Ivy possessed enough prestige to subdue the unruly underground dwarves and force them to cooperate sincerely with their arch-enemy, the followers of Gond. Not to mention, there was also a group of otherworldly mages who looked extremely formidable acting as a lubricant.

"Your Grace, according to your plan, we need to excavate a larger lava pool within the city, diverting lava from the lava river, and then using several adamantite probes to channel the heat of the lava into the molten core, converting and storing it." Zander Thubin, the leader of the Gond followers, wiped the sweat from his brow caused by the lava's heat and nodded to indicate he understood. "So, regarding the location of the molten core, do you have a preferred site?"

“Urban planning has always been a specialty of the Gonde followers, so this task is entrusted to you. Remember to consider the location of the adamantite furnace and elevators. The power supply channels for the molten core must eventually extend to the surface and connect with my mage tower, which is also the admissions office in Strijn.” Ivy waved her sleeve, bringing a cool breeze that dispelled the heat around them. “In the future, Morningstar City will become a complete city that never sleeps, and the heat from underground will become the city lights, illuminating every corner of darkness.”

"Your brilliance is unmatched!" The gray-skinned leader of the underground dwarves, Ulbrun, bowed to Ivy. "However, I have a small proposal, and I ask for your permission..."

“Go ahead and say it,” Ivy nodded.

"The followers of Gondar are indeed unparalleled craftsmen in Faerûn, but when it comes to construction in the underground world, we subterranean gnomes are the forte. Besides, while similar city planning may create a unified aesthetic, the vast differences in environment cannot be compensated for by a single city plan. The inhabitants of Duskstar City are drow elves, grey dwarves, subterranean gnomes, and vampires who take refuge in your glory. Perhaps we should create a different kind of city, one with a more exotic flair, so that all of Faerûn knows that your brilliance is like the sun in the sky, and does not discriminate based on racial differences!"

"Are you confident in creating a completely new urban style that represents all the underground residents?" Ivy didn't dislike her subordinates' ambition; people with desires are easier to control.

“Of course, this also requires the cooperation of all the underground inhabitants. We underground dwarves are just responsible for realizing this vision.” Urbren looked at Mingsara, the lord of Twilight City, who was standing next to Ivy.

“I’ve always believed in leaving professional matters to professionals.” Minsara’s wine-red eyes darted around as she reached out to smooth out a wrinkle in Ivy’s robe. “Just as you are responsible for illuminating our people, while I am responsible for plotting in the shadows. And these underground dwarves are responsible for building our common home.”

“Alright.” Ivy chuckled. “Then the transformation plan for Dusk Star City will be handled by you underground gnomes. However, the parts concerning the adamantite furnace and the molten core will require the cooperation of everyone.”

"In addition, we need the help of all the staff in the school's public affairs department to help with the charging stations for the golems."

(End of this chapter)